July 27th , 1669
Cockles and Mussels
“Molly Malone” (also known as “Cockles and Mussels” or “In Dublin’s Fair City”) is the unofficial anthem of Dublin City in Ireland.
It is also sung by supporters of the Irish international rugby team.
Tart with the Cart
Molly Malone is commemorated in a statue erected at the bottom of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street in Dublin by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe, to celebrate the city’s first millennium in 1987; this statue is known colloquially as The Tart with the Cart.
The statue portrays Molly in seventeenth-century dress and is claimed to represent a real person, but this is an urban legend as the subject of the song is probably fictional.
James Yorkston
Cockles and Mussels as we know it was actually written by James Yorkston of Edinburgh in the late nineteenth century, and was undoubtedly influenced by earlier songs with a similar theme.
The songs tragic heroine Molly Malone and her barrow have come to stand as one of the most familiar symbols of the capital. In addition, Mollys international pulling power is shown by the fact that she scores hundreds of hits on the Internet, many of them relating to Irish pubs bearing her name.
Baptized
1669 Molly Malone, the celebrated fishmonger who became the subject of a ballad, was christened at St Werburghs Church.
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 there was a historical Molly, who lived in the 17th century. She is typically represented as a hawker by day and part-time prostitute by night.
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.
Molly Malone Day June 13
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”
Lyrics
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
