Molly Malone: A Little History

So who is Molly Malone - the real Molly Malone? Well that is an interesting question and one that does not really have an answer.

Some experts claim that Molly is a real person, and have even offered evidence about her date and place of birth. However, others claim is not one person, but a composite character, that represents a typical street hawker in Dublin during the late 1700s.

No one can really be sure, but nonetheless Molly Malone has been made famous in a song (lyrics below) that is now known all over the world. The song is also an unofficial Irish anthem and is sung by football and rugby fans regularly.

Regardless of whether she was a real person, or many people, today Molly is an Irish icon and she can be seen everyday on Dublin's Grafton Street where a statue of Molly was erected in 1988 to celebrate the city's millennium - there she stands, pushing her cart and selling her cockles and mussels to all.

Lyrics to the famous Irish song:

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-a-live-oh,
Alive-a-live-oh",
Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive alive oh".

She was a fishmonger,
And sure 'twas no wonder,
For so were her mother and father before,
And they each wheeled 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.
Now her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!"