Molly Malone

The song tells the fictional tale of a fishwife who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin and died young, of a fever. In the late 20th century, a legend grew up that a historical Molly lived in the 17th century. She is typically represented as a hawker by day and a part-time prostitute by night.Siobhán Marie Kilfeather, Dublin: a cultural history, Oxford University Press US, 2005, p. 6. In contrast, she has also been portrayed as one of the few chaste female street hawkers of her day.

There is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman in the 17th century or any other time. The name "Molly" originated as a familiar version of the names Mary and Margaret. Many such "Molly" Malones were born in Dublin over the centuries, but no evidence connects any of them to the events in the song. Nevertheless, the Dublin Millennium Commission in 1988 endorsed claims made for a Mary Malone who died on 13 June 1699, and proclaimed 13 June to be "Molly Malone Day".

The song is not recorded earlier than 1876, when it was published in Boston, Massachusetts.{{cite book|last1=Waite|first1=Henry Randall|title=Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges, with Selections from the Student Songs of the English and German Universitys|date=1876|publisher=Ditson|page=73}} Its placement in the section of the book titled "Songs from English and German Universities" suggests an Irish origin.{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Peter Jensen|title=Molly Malone, Molly Mogg and a Missing Link – the Fishy History and Origins of "Cockles and Mussels"|url=http://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/07/molly-malone-molly-mogg-and-missing.html|website=Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History Blog|date=15 July 2015 }} It was also published by Francis Brothers and Day in London in 1884 as a work written and composed by James Yorkston, of Edinburgh, with music arranged by Edmund Forman. The London edition states that it was reprinted with permission from Kohler and Son of Edinburgh, implying that the first edition was in Scotland, but no copies of it have been found.{{cite web|title= Cockles and Mussels (Molly Malone)|url= http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=618|work= Folkinfo.org (quoting book by Sean Murphy)|year= 2002|access-date= 22 August 2007|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110719115810/http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=618|archive-date= 19 July 2011|df= dmy-all}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.charliechaplinarchive.org/en/collection/cerca/cockles-and-mussels-or-molly-malone-written-and-composed-by-james-yorkston-arranged-by-edmund-forman|title=Cockles and Mussels or, Molly Malone / Written and Composed by James Yorkston; Arranged by Edmund Forman - ECCI00029782 |website=charliechaplinarchive.org}}{{cite web|url = https://threadinburgh.scot/2022/10/24/the-thread-about-what-links-a-victorian-gas-meter-collector-from-abbeyhill-a-german-sheet-music-publisher-and-an-irish-cultural-anthem/ | website = threadinburgh.scot | title = The thread about what links a Victorian gas meter collector from Abbeyhill, a German sheet music publisher and an Irish cultural anthem | date = 24 October 2022 }}

According to Siobhán Marie Kilfeather, the song is from the music hall style of the period, and one cannot wholly dismiss the possibility that it is "based on an older folk song", but "neither melody nor words bear any relationship to the Irish tradition of street ballads". She calls the story of the historical Molly "nonsense". The song is in a familiar tragicomic mode that was then popular and was probably influenced by earlier songs with a similar theme, such as Percy Montross's "Oh My Darling, Clementine", which was written in about 1880.

A variant, "Cockles and Mussels", with different lyrics, appeared in Students' Songs: Comprising the Newest and Most Popular College Songs As Now Sung at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, ... Union, Etc in 1884.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/studentssongscom00hill|title=Student's songs : comprising the newest and most popular college songs as now sung at Harvard, Yale, Columbia ... Union, etc.|first=William H. (William Henry)|last=Hills|date=7 March 1884|publisher=Cambridge, Mass. : M. King|via=Internet Archive}}

File:Molly malone statuette.jpg

A copy of Apollo's Medley, dating from around 1790, published in Doncaster and rediscovered in 2010, contains a song referring to "Sweet Molly Malone" on page 78 that ends with the line "Och! I'll roar and I'll groan, My sweet Molly Malone, Till I'm bone of your bone, And asleep in your bed." Other than this name and the fact that she lives in Howth, near Dublin, this song bears no resemblance to Molly Malone.{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/18/molly-malone-earliest-version-hay | title = Tart with a cart? Older song shows Dublin's Molly Malone in new light | work= The Guardian | date = 18 July 2010 | author = Maev Kennedy}} The song was later reprinted in the collection The Shamrock: A Collection of Irish Songs (1831) and was published in The Edinburgh Literary Journal that year with the title "Molly Malone".{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPsVAAAAIAAJ&q=Till+I'm+bone+of+your+bone,+And+asleep+in+your+bed&pg=PA43|title=The Edinburgh Literary Journal: Or, Weekly Register of Criticism and Belles-lettres|date=8 November 1831|publisher=Constable and Company|via=Google Books}}

Some elements of the song appear in several earlier songs. A character named Molly Malone appears in at least two other songs. The song "Widow Malone," published as early as 1809, refers to the title character alternately as "Molly Malone," "Mary Malone" and "sweet mistress Malone". Another song, "Meet Me Miss Molly Malone", was published as early as 1836 in Glasgow, and in America in 1840. The song "Pat Corney's Account of Himself", published as early as 1826,{{cite book|title=The Universal Songster: or, Museum of Mirth|date=1826|publisher=John Fairburn|location=London|page=19}} begins, "Now it's show me that city where the girls are so pretty" and ends, "Crying oysters, and cockles, and Mussels for sale." During the 19th century, the expression "Dublin's fair city" was used regularly in reference to Dublin, and the phrase "alive, alive O" is known to have been shouted by street vendors selling oysters, mussels, fish and eels. A "Cockles and Mussels", with lyrics and music attributed to J. B. Geoghegan was published in 1876, featuring a very similar chorus but set in London with Jim the mussel man and no Molly Malone.{{cite web |last=Baxter |first=John |year=2020 |title= Cockles and Mussels |url=https://folksongandmusichall.com/index.php/cockles-and-mussels/ |website=Folk Song and Music Hall |location= |publisher=John Baxter |access-date=2025-03-10}} An 1882 source credits Geoghegan with the Molly Malone version.{{cite book |editor-last=Warren |date=1882 |title=The Ladies' Treasury |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jwFAAAAQAAJ&q=%22cockles%20and%20mussels%22 |location=London |publisher=Bembrose and Sons |page=237 |isbn= |access-date=2025-03-10}}

{{Poem quote|

In Dublin's fair city,

Where the girls are so pretty,

I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,

As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

"Alive, alive, oh,

Alive, alive, oh,"

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

She was a fishmonger

But sure 'twas no wonder

For so were her father and mother before

And they each wheel'd their barrow

Through streets broad and narrow

Crying "Cockles and mussels alive, alive oh!"

(chorus)

She died of a fever,

And no one could save her,

And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.

But her ghost wheels her barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

(chorus) ×2{{cite web |url= http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/mollylyrics.htm | first = James | last = Yorkston |title= Molly Malone lyrics|year=1998|access-date= 6 October 2008}}

}}

File:Cockles and Mussels (Student's Songs 1884).jpg

{{Poem quote|

In Dublin City where the girls they are so pretty,

'Twas there I first met with sweet Molly Malone;

She drove a wheel-barrow, thro' streets broad and narrow,

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, all alive!"

Alive, alive-o! Alive, alive-o!

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, all alive!"

She was a fish-monger and that was the wonder,

Her father and mother were fishmongers too;

They drove wheelbarrows thro' streets broad and narrow,

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, all alive!"

(chorus)

She died of the {{sic|hide=yes|faver}}, and nothing could save her,

And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone;

But her ghost drives a barrow thro' streets broad and narrow,

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, all alive!"

(chorus)

}}

{{Poem quote|

By the big Hill of Howth,

That's a bit of an Oath,

That to swear by I'm loth,

To the heart of a stone,

But be poison my drink,

If I sleep snore or wink,

Once forgetting to think,

Of your lying alone,

Och it's how I'm in love,

Like a beautiful dove,

That sits cooing above,

In the boughs of a tree;

It's myself I'll soon smother,

In something or other,

Unless I can bother,

Your heart to love me,

Sweet Molly, Sweet Molly Malone,

Sweet Molly, Sweet Molly Malone

I can see if you smile,

Though I'm off half a mile,

For my eyes all the while,

Keep along with my head,

And my head on must know,

When from Molly I go,

Takes his leave with a bow,

And remains in my stead,

(chorus)

Like a bird I could sing,

In the month of the spring,

But it's now no such thing,

I'm quite bothered and dead,

Och I'll roar and I'll groan,

My sweet Molly Malone,

Till I'm bone of your bone, [a reference to Genesis 2:23]

And asleep in your bed

(chorus){{Citation |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7U5MAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA350 |title= The Edinburgh Literary Journal: Or, Weekly Register of Criticism and Belles Lettres | volume = 5 |year= 1831 |access-date= 31 March 2015|page =350}}

}}

File:Molly Malone 073007.JPG

Molly Malone is commemorated in a statue commissioned by Jurys Hotel Group and designed by Jeanne Rynhart, erected to celebrate the city's first millennium in 1988. It was initially intended that Rynhart would be commissioned to create 12 street sculptures, including those of famous literary figures such as W. B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde, with the intention of creating a sculpture trail in the city.{{Cite news|last=Harrison|first=Bernice|title=Shining example – An Irishwoman's Diary on the Molly Malone statue and inventing a tradition|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/shining-example-an-irishwoman-s-diary-on-the-molly-malone-statue-and-inventing-a-tradition-1.4031633|access-date=24 February 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en | date = 26 September 2019}} The unveiling of the statue was not met with universal praise, with Adrian Munnelly, director of the Arts Council in his capacity as registrar of Aosdána, writing to Bord Fáilte (the National Tourism Development) at the time to express his members' "universal depreciation" noting the statue was "entirely deficient in artistic point and merit". Lord Mayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe defended the statue, saying "the statue was regarded with great warmth and affection by the city of Dublin".

The statue was originally placed at the bottom of Grafton Street, and as with other public art in the city, was christened colloquially as "The Tart with the Cart". The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in 17th-century dress, which would have consisted of a full-length chemise, overskirt and basque of wool. Her low-cut dress and large breasts were justified on the grounds that as "women breastfed publicly in Molly's time, breasts were popped out all over the place."{{Cite web|url=http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/molly.htm|title=Irish Historical Mysteries: Molly Malone|website=homepage.eircom.net}}{{Cite web|title=Molly Malone Statue Unveiled. {{!}} Irish Photo Archive|url=https://irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/image/I0000vEf2u_hJxUE|access-date=2020-12-29|website=irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com}} The traditional, but revealing, costume in which Rynhart sculpted her may have also nodded to her supposed job as a part-time prostitute.{{Cite web|last=Phelan|first=Kate|title=A Brief History of Dublin's Mysterious Molly Malone|url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/ireland/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-mysterious-molly-malone/|date=2021-04-27|access-date=2022-09-15|website=theculturetrip.com|language=en}}

In April 2014, the statue was removed from its original location at the base of Grafton Street and kept in storage to make way for the new Luas tracks which skirted around Trinity College.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/molly-malone-statue-wheeled-away-to-make-way-for-luas-1.1780090|title=Molly Malone statue wheeled away to make way for Luas| date=1 May 2014| newspaper=The Irish Times| author=Flaherty, Rachel}} During the removal of the statue, some cracks were revealed which required restoration work. Bushy Park Ironworks carried this out in the city. Speaking to The Irish Times, ironworks employee Edward Bisgood noted how the company was "carrying out some patination to bring her back to her original dark brown colour, but (was) leaving the areas where she's been rubbed over the years, so she will look as people remember her, but she'll be a lot stronger".

In July 2014, the statue was placed in its new location outside the Dublin Tourist Office (formerly St. Andrew's Church) on Suffolk Street, a short distance from the original site.{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/molly-malone-statue-defaced-week-after-unveiling-1.1875719 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Molly Malone statue defaced week after unveiling | first = Erin | last = McGuire | date = 23 July 2014 | access-date = 14 September 2022 }} Due to its notability and location, the statue is also a common starting and finishing point for some of Dublin city's walking tours.

File:Tourist performs unofficial Molly Malone statue tradition.jpg

Sometime before 2014, reportedly at the instigation of an "imaginative tour guide",{{cite news | url = https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2025/0401/1505203-molly-malone-statue/ | website = rte.ie | title = Stewards to patrol Molly Malone statue to discourage 'groping' | date = 1 April 2025 | accessdate = 2 April 2025 | first = Samantha | last = Libreri }} tourists began rubbing the statue's bosom area "for luck".{{Cite web|last=O'Connor|first=Amy|title=It's official: tourists can't keep their hands off Molly Malone|url=https://www.dailyedge.ie/molly-malone-tourists-boobs-2240994-Jul2015/|date=2015-07-28|access-date=2022-09-15|website=DailyEdge.ie|language=en}} The relatively new practice has been criticised by a number of people,{{cite news|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/she-too-stop-sexually-harassing-molly-malone-1.3613823| newspaper = The Irish Times | first = Maura | last = O'Neill | title = She too: stop sexually harassing Molly Malone | date = 8 September 2018 | access-date = 25 August 2023 }}{{cite web|url = https://www.thejournal.ie/molly-malone-vandalism-dublin-6171746-Sep2023/| publisher = Journal Media Ltd | website = thejournal.ie | title = 'Please don't' message painted on Molly Malone statue - but tourists undeterred | first = Valerie | last = Flynn | date = 18 September 2023 | access-date = 13 October 2023 }} including Dublin-born singer Imelda May, who associated it with the objectification of women and questioned how "the only statue in Dublin with breasts is basically assaulted in front of our children's eyes daily".{{cite web|url = https://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/irish-showbiz/imelda-may-rages-at-groping-of-molly-malones-breasts-after-protestors-second-daubing/a325475188.html | work = Sunday World | first = Níall | last = Feiritear | title = Objectified {{!}} Imelda May rages at groping of Molly Malone's breasts after protestors second daubing | date = 25 August 2023 | access-date = 25 August 2023 }} In February 2024, a busker initiated a "Leave Molly {{sic|hide=yes|mAlone}}" campaign to draw attention to the misogynistic trend and call for it to end.{{cite web |url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/busker-launches-leave-molly-malone-campaign-to-end-groping-tradition/a2140775717.html | website = independent.ie | title =Busker launches 'Leave Molly mAlone' campaign to end groping 'tradition' | first = Amy | last = Donohoe | date = 28 February 2024 | access-date = 5 March 2024 }}{{cite web |url = https://www.irishtimes.com/video/video/2024/02/29/campaign-calls-for-end-to-groping-of-molly-malone-statues-breasts/ | website = irishtimes.com | title = Campaign calls for end to groping of Molly Malone statue's breasts | first = Bryan |last = O'Brien | date = 29 February 2024 | access-date = 5 March 2024 }} In 2025, Dublin City Council hired stewards to discourage the practice.{{cite news |date=1 April 2025 |first1=Olivia |last1= Kelly |title=Patrols to protect Molly Malone statue from groping |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/04/01/patrols-to-protect-molly-malone-statue-from-groping/ |newspaper=The Irish Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401164936/https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/04/01/patrols-to-protect-molly-malone-statue-from-groping/ |archive-date=2025-04-01 |url-status=live}}

In the film A Clockwork Orange (1971), a drunk tramp sings "Molly Malone" in a tunnel before being assaulted by Alex and his gang, whom Alex refers to as his "droogs".{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-fame-game-1.256678|title=The fame game|date=17 Mar 2000| newspaper=The Irish Times| last=Dwyer |first=Michael }} In the film Premature Burial (1962), a character plays the melody to "Molly Malone" on the piano.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The Irish soap opera Fair City derives its title from the opening line of the song: "In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty..."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/continuingstoryo00shee/page/39|title=The Continuing Story of Irish Television Drama|last=Sheehan|first=Helena|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=2004|isbn=1-85182-689-0|location=Dublin|pages=[https://archive.org/details/continuingstoryo00shee/page/39 39-57]}}

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a 1943 novel by Betty Smith later adapted into a movie, "Molly Malone" is often sung in a nightly game that Johnny plays with his family. If he finishes before they open the door, he wins. The one time he sings the verse about dying, he foreshadows his death three days later.{{cite web |author= |date=2020 |title=A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Chapter 6 |url=https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn/chapter-6 |website=LitCharts |location=California |publisher=Course Hero |access-date=2025-03-30}}

Versions of the song "Molly Malone" have been recorded by many artists, including The Dubliners,{{Cite web |url= http://itsthedubliners.com/dubs_d50_40_years_Live.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091113182907/http://itsthedubliners.com/DUBS_D50_40_years_Live.htm |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 13 November 2009 |title= The Dubliners: Discography – Live 40 Years Reunion |publisher= It's the Dubliners|access-date=12 April 2017}} Heino,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 10 June 2021 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Heino-Molly-Malone/release/3174150 | title = Heino Molly Malone release 3174150}} Danny Kaye,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 10 June 2021 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-Dinah-Molly-Malone/release/7012352| title = Danny Kaye Dinah Molly Malone release 7012352 }} Pete Seeger,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 10 June 2021 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Pete-Seeger-American-Favorite-Ballads-Songs-And-Tunes-Vol-5/master/679900 | title = Pete Seeger American Favorite Ballads Songs And Tunes Vol 5 }} Sinéad O'Connor,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 10 June 2021 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Sin%C3%A9ad-OConnor-Sean-N%C3%B3s-Nua/master/51682 | title = Sinéad OConnor Sean Nós Nua }} Johnny Logan,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 10 June 2021 | url = https://www.discogs.com/Johnny-Logan-Friends-The-Irish-Connection-Live/release/6160194 | title = Johnny Logan Friends The Irish Connection Live release 6160194 }} Fiddler's Green,{{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 31 December 2024 | url = https://www.discogs.com/master/1876401-Fiddlers-Green-3-Cheers-For-30-Years | title = Fiddler's Green – 3 Cheers For 30 Years }} and Patty Gurdy. {{cite web| website = discogs.com | date = 31 December 2024 | url = https://www.discogs.com/release/16580628-Patty-Gurdy-Frost-Faeries | title = Patty Gurdy – Frost & Faeries }}{{better source|reason=Several of these entries rely on discogs.com. Which, per WP:DISCOGS, is user-generated and "therefore generally unreliable". These entries would, ideally, not rely so heavily on this source...|date=December 2024}}

Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney recorded an updated version of the song titled "The Daughter of Molly Malone" on their album That Travelin' Two-Beat (1965).{{cite book | title = Bing Crosby: A Lifetime of Music | first = Laurence J. | last = Zwisohn | publisher = Palm Tree | date = 1978 | page = 108 | place = Los Angeles }} Crosby also sang the song on the album A Little Bit of Irish recorded in 1966.{{cite web|url = http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/BingTV.htm | publisher = Bing Magazine | website = bingmagazine.co.uk | title = The Chronological Bing Crosby On Television | access-date = 10 June 2021 | editor1 = Pairpoint, L | editor2 = Macfarlane, M | editor3 = Van Beek, G }}

A version of the song was released as a charity single in 1998, to mark the Dublin Millennium, and reached number 4 in the Irish singles chart.{{cite web|url = http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&search_type=song&placement=molly+malone | publisher = IMRA | website = irishcharts.ie | title = Irish Charts - Search - Song - Molly Malone | access-date = 10 June 2021 }}{{cite web|url = https://www.discogs.com/The-Band-Of-Dubs-Ronnie-Drew-Molly-Malone-The-Millennium-Anthem-Jem/release/14040667 | website = discogs.com | title = The Band Of Dubs / Ronnie Drew – Molly Malone "The Millennium Anthem" / Jem | access-date = 10 June 2021 }}

Versions of the song have also been recorded in Russian (as Душа моя, Молли or "Molly, my soul"), French, and in Dutch (as "kokkels en mossels").{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

• List of public art in Dublin
• Prostitution in the Republic of Ireland
• Street cries
• Roud Folk Song Index 16932

{{Reflist}}

{{wikisource}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [http://www.irishpage.com/songs/cockles.htm Lyrics with chords]
• [http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/molly.htm An article about Molly Malone]
• [https://www.irishphotoarchive.ie/image/I0000vEf2u_hJxUE Unveiling of the statue in 1988]

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