Irish poet Thomas Moore wrote the poem “The Last Rose of Summer” in 1805 and set it to the old Irish tune “The Young Man’s Dream.”

Composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Mikhail Glinka, Paul Hindemith, Charles Gounod and Felix Mendelssohn all wrote arrangements of this song. In popular culture, there are familiar versions by Bing Crosby, Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church, The Three Tenors and even The Grateful Dead.