Molly Malone
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Template:Listen "Molly Malone" (Roud 16932; also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a song set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the city's unofficial anthem.
A statue representing Molly Malone, designed by Dublin artist Jeanne Rynhart, was unveiled on Grafton Street during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe. In July 2014, the statue was relocated to Suffolk Street, in front of the Tourist Information Office, to make way for Luas track-laying work at the old location.
History
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.<ref name = "kil">Siobhán Marie Kilfeather, Dublin: a cultural history, Oxford University Press US, 2005, p. 6.</ref> 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.<ref name = "kil"/><ref name = "eire"/> 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".<ref name = "kil"/>
The song is not recorded earlier than 1876, when it was published in Boston, Massachusetts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Its placement in the section of the book titled "Songs from English and German Universities" suggests an Irish origin.<ref name="Jensen-Brown">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="molly">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="thread">Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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".<ref name="Jensen-Brown" /> Another song, "Meet Me Miss Molly Malone", was published as early as 1836 in Glasgow, and in America in 1840.<ref name="thread"/><ref name="Jensen-Brown" /> The song "Pat Corney's Account of Himself", published as early as 1826,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> begins, "Now it's show me that city where the girls are so pretty" and ends, "Crying oysters, and cockles, and Mussels for sale."<ref name="Jensen-Brown" />
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.<ref name="Jensen-Brown" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An 1882 source credits Geoghegan with the Molly Malone version.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Lyrics
"Cockles and Mussels" in Students' Songs (1884)
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"Molly Malone" in Apollo's Medley (1791)
Statue
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.<ref name = BH>Template:Cite news</ref> 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".<ref name = BH/> Lord Mayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe defended the statue, saying "the statue was regarded with great warmth and affection by the city of Dublin".<ref name = BH/>
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.<ref name = BH/> 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."<ref name = "eire">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The traditional, but revealing, costume in which Rynhart sculpted her may have also nodded to her supposed job as a part-time prostitute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the removal of the statue, some cracks were revealed which required restoration work. Bushy Park Ironworks carried this out in the city.<ref name = BH/> 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".<ref name = BH/>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Due to its notability and location, the statue is also a common starting and finishing point for some of Dublin city's walking tours.<ref name = BH/>
Sometime before 2014,<ref name = BH/> reportedly at the instigation of an "imaginative tour guide",<ref name="rte2025">Template:Cite news</ref> tourists began rubbing the statue's bosom area "for luck".<ref name = BH/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The relatively new practice has been criticised by a number of people,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2024, a busker initiated a "Leave Molly Template:Sic" campaign to draw attention to the trend and call for it to end.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, Dublin City Council hired stewards in a trial to discourage the practice.<ref name="rte2025"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The trial was not viewed as successful by the city council, and a decision was made to place flowerbeds around the base as a physical barrier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In popular culture
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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the film Premature Burial (1962), a character plays the melody to "Molly Malone" on the piano.Template:Citation needed
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..."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Recordings
Versions of the song "Molly Malone" have been recorded by many artists, including The Dubliners,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Heino,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Danny Kaye,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pete Seeger,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sinéad O'Connor,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Johnny Logan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fiddler's Green,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Patty Gurdy. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source
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).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Crosby also sang the song on the album A Little Bit of Irish recorded in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A version of the song was released as a charity single in 1988, to mark the Dublin Millennium, and reached number 4 in the Irish singles chart.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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").Template:Citation needed
See also
- List of public art in Dublin
- Prostitution in the Republic of Ireland
- Street cries
- Roud Folk Song Index 16932