Sweet Molly Malone

What to see in Dublin. Cockles and Mussels. Famous Irish songs.

Molly Malone is not just the 'anthem' of Dublin and the city's sports supporters. It has become famous throughout the world.

It tells of a Dublin long gone, when street vendors plied their trade from a barrow having collected their produce from the early morning markets.

In Molly's case (had she lived) she would have selected her cockles and mussels from the bounty landed at the city's quayside each morning, placed them in baskets on her barrow, and set off on her rounds. She would probably have followed certain routes on certain days, and her customers would have listened out for the calls that announced her arrival in their locality.

There is no evidence to suggest that Molly was a real person. Countless people, including academics and genealogists, have tried to find proof of her existence. None has been found.

Her bronze statue, on the junction of Nassau Stret, Suffolk Street and the pedestrianised shopping mecca of Grafton Street, was erected in 1987 and is a popular meeting place for both locals and tourists.

Sweet Molly Malone - Lyrics

Hunting for Molly in 1911

There's no evidence that Molly was anything other than a figment of the songwriter's imagination.

But just for the sake of idle curiosity and a bit of harmless fun, I took a rummage in the 1901 census (the oldest surviving Irish census) and found two Molly Malones listed.
Molly Malone in the 1901 census. Click for full view.

What's immediately obvious is that neither of these two girls lived in Dublin. One is from rural county Clare, the other from the city of Limerick.

Nor is there any hint that either is the daughter of a fish-monger. The first girl is the second daughter of a Grocer. The other girl is a visitor to the household of a labouring family.

Of course, it's perfectly possible that 'our' Molly Malone had already succumbed to her fever by 1901...

In Dublin's fair city
Where the girls are so pretty
I first laid my eyes on
Sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying "Cockles and Mussels,
Alive, alive - oh".

Chorus:
Alive, alive - oh. Alive, alive - oh.
Crying Cockles and Mussels. Alive, alive - oh.

She was a fishmonger.
And sure t'was no wonder.
For so was her Father
And Mother before.
And they all wheeled their barrows
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.
Now her ghost wheels her barrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying "Cockles and Mussels,
Alive, alive - oh".

Chorus

From Molly Malone to Irish Genealogy Toolkit Home.

Sighteeing in Dublin's fair city

Join the sit-down comics for a sightseeing tour on a Dublin bus.

Miss Malone's reputation

In typical Dublin form, there's a good clutch of nicknames for 'Our Molly'. She's a popular lass, all right, but there's a certain theme running through these names which suggest she's not necessarily the kind of girl you take home to meet Ma.

Here are a few of the better known names:

The tart with the cart

The trollop with the scallop

The dolly with the trolley

The flirt in the skirt

The dish with the fish.

Good golly Miss Molly

In July 2010 came news that casts Dublin's favourite fishmonger in a different light to the virtuous young girl of the famous song.

An earlier version of the song, perhaps as much as 100 years older, was discovered in a late 18th-century book containing a collection of popular theatre songs.

In this older version, there are no cockles and mussels. Indeed Molly isn't even a fishmonger, and she doesn't die of a fever, either. Instead, she's the kind of girl that makes the singer very happy in the evening.

"Och! I'll roar and I'll groan,
my sweet Molly Malone
Till I'm bone on your bone
and asleep in your bed."

From the 'new' lyrics, it's hard to tell if the object of his interest returns his affections. He also sings:

"It's myself I'll soon smother
In something or other
Unless I can bother
Your heart to love me."

The book in which the lyrics were found, Apollo's Medley, dates from 1790, but the song may be considerably older.

The discovery, by a bookshop owner in Hay-on-Wye on the Wales/England border, certainly raises questions about the busty fish seller chosen as the focus of Dublin's millennium celebrations 23 years ago.

Perhaps the nicknames are closer to the mark, after all!

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