Song Lyrics

Molly Malone

Traditional

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In Dublin's fair city
Where girls are so pretty
It was there that I first met sweet Molly Malone
She wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"

Alive, alive, oh
Alive, alive, oh
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"

Now she was a fishmonger
And sure, t'was no wonder
For her father and mother
Were fishmongers too
And they both wheeled their barrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"

Alive, alive, oh
Alive, alive, oh
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"

Now she died of a fever
And no one could save her
Was then that I lost sweet Molly Malone
Now her ghost wheels her 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"

Footnotes

"Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a popular song set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become its unofficial anthem.

There is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman. The name "Molly" originated as a familiar version of the names Mary and Margaret. While many such "Molly" Malones were born in Dublin over the centuries, 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 dates back to at least 1876, when it was published in Boston in the book titled "Songs from English and German Universities". The Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street was unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe, during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, when 13 June was declared to be Molly Malone Day.

Transcriptions of Molly Malone

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