Molly Malone
Encyclopedia
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
of Dublin City.
The Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street was unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe
Ben Briscoe
Ben Briscoe is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician.-Member of Dáil Éireann:He was a Teachta Dála for 37 years, representing a series of constituencies in Dublin....
during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, declaring 13 June as Molly Malone Day.
History
The song tells the fictional tale of a beautiful fishmongerFishmonger
A fishmonger is someone who sells fish and seafood...
who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin, but who 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. However, there is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman, of the 17th century or at any other time. The name "Molly
Molly (name)
Molly or Mollie is a pet-name for Mary . It is sometimes used as a name in its own right.-People:*Molly Burnett, American actress and singer...
" originated as a familiar version of the names Mary
Mary (given name)
Mary is a feminine given name, the English form of the name Maria, which was in turn a Latin form of the Greek names Μαριαμ, or Mariam, and Μαρια, or Maria, found in the New Testament. Both New Testament names were forms of the Hebrew name מִרְיָם or Miryam.The usual meaning given by various...
and Margaret
Margaret (name)
Margaret is a female first name, derived from the Greek word margarites meaning "pearl." It may have originally been derived from the Sanskrit word मञ्यरी mañjarī....
. 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, in 1988 the Dublin Millennium Commission endorsed claims concerning a Molly Malone who died on 13 June 1699, and proclaimed 13 June to be "Molly Malone day".
The song is not recorded earlier than 1883, when it was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. It was also published by Francis Brothers and Day in London 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 by permission of Kohler and Son of Edinburgh, implying that the first edition was in Scotland, though no copies of it have been located. According to Siobhán Marie Kilfeather the song is from the music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
style of the period, and while one cannot wholly dismiss the possibility that it is "based on an older folk song", "neither melody nor words bear any relationship to the Irish tradition of street ballads." She describes the story of the historical Molly as "nonsense". The song is in a familiar tragi-comic mode popular in this period, probably influenced by earlier songs with a similar theme, such as Percy Montrose's "My Darling Clementine
Oh My Darling, Clementine
Oh My Darling, Clementine is an American western folk ballad usually credited to Percy Montrose , although it is sometimes credited to Barker Bradford. The song is believed to have been based on another song called Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden by H. S...
", which was written circa 1880.
A copy of Apollo's Medley, dating to around 1790, published in Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
and rediscovered in 2010, contains a song referring to "Sweet Molly Malone" on its page 78 - this 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." However, other than this name and the fact that she lives in Howth
Howth
Howth is an area in Fingal County near Dublin city in Ireland. Originally just a small fishing village, Howth with its surrounding rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development and wild hillside, all on the peninsula of Howth Head. The only...
near Dublin, this song bears no other resemblance to the familiar Molly Malone. The song was later reprinted in a collection entitled The Shamrock: A Collection of Irish Songs (1831) and was published in the The Edinburgh literary journal that year with the title "Molly Malone".
Frank Harte
Frank Harte
Frank Harte was a traditional Irish singer, song collector, architect and lecturer. He was born and raised in Dublin. His father Peter Harte who had moved from a farming background in Sligo owned 'The Tap' pub in Chapelizod...
, one of the great Dublin singers, who also sang this song, used to say: "Never judge a song by the company it keeps!"
Recordings
Artists who have recorded versions of Molly Malone include U2U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Frank Harte
Frank Harte
Frank Harte was a traditional Irish singer, song collector, architect and lecturer. He was born and raised in Dublin. His father Peter Harte who had moved from a farming background in Sligo owned 'The Tap' pub in Chapelizod...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Johnny Logan
Johnny Logan (singer)
Johnny Logan , is an Australian-born Irish singer and composer. He is regarded as "Mister Eurovision", having participated in the Eurovision Song Contest many times since the 1970s, and, since 1992, has been the most successful artist in Eurovision history.Logan has won the international contest on...
and Paul Harrington however the best known version is by The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
.
The song was also sung on M*A*S*H (Season 10)"That's Show Biz".
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, "CockleCockle (bivalve)Cockle is the common name for a group of small, edible, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae.Various species of cockles live in sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world....
s and musselMusselThe common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s, 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 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!"
- (chorus)
"Molly Malone" in Apollo's Medley (1790)
- By the big Hill of Howth,
- That's a bit of an Oath,
- That to swear by I'm loth,
- To the heart of a stone,
- But be poison my drink,
- If I sleep snore or wink,
- Once forgetting to think,
- Of your lying alone,
- Och it's how I'm in love,
- Like a beautiful dove,
- That sits cooing above,
- In the boughs of a tree;
- It's myself I'll soon smother,
- In something or other,
- Unless I can bother,
- Your heart to love me,
- Sweet Molly, Sweet Molly Malone,
- Sweet Molly, Sweet Molly Malone
Statue
Grafton Street, Dublin
Grafton Street is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre, the other being Henry Street. It runs from St. Stephen's Green in the south to College Green in the north...
in Dublin, this statue is known colloquially
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
as "The Tart With The Cart", "The Dish With The Fish", "The Trollop With The Scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
(s)", "The Dolly With the Trolley", and "The Flirt in the Skirt". The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in seventeenth-century dress. 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."
Sporting anthem
'Molly Malone' is best associated with Dublin GAADublin GAA
Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association , or Dublin GAA, is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Dublin. The county board is also responsible for the Dublin inter-county teams...
. In the 2000's the song was adopted by Leinster Rugby
Leinster Rugby
Leinster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Leinster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Dublin, representing the Irish province of Leinster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro 12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...
and it has become their Anthem.
The song is also sung by supporters
Football chant
A football chant or terrace chant, is a song or chant sung at association football matches. They can be historic, dating back to the formation of the club, adaptations of popular songs, or spontaneous reactions to events on the pitch. They are one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song...
of Columbus Crew
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
, Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
, Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
, Wycombe Wanderers F.C.
Wycombe Wanderers F.C.
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional football team from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, which has been promoted to Football League One after finishing third in Football League Two in the season 2010–11. The club's nicknames are "The Chairboys" and "The Blues", and they play...
, Bolton Wanderers, Berwick Rangers F.C.
Berwick Rangers F.C.
Berwick Rangers Football Club are a football team based in the English Border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, although they play in the Scottish Football League Third Division...
, St. Mirren F.C.
St. Mirren F.C.
St Mirren Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Paisley, Renfrewshire who play in the Scottish Premier League, having been promoted from the First Division in 2005–06.St...
, Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is an English football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship, after being promoted via the League One play-offs in 2008, and have remained there since.The club was founded in...
, Terenure College
Terenure College RFC
Terenure College RFC was founded on November 14th 1940. It is a senior rugby club in Dublin, Ireland.-History:Terenure College RFC was founded on November 14th 1940. With a great love for the game and concerned that past pupils were not playing rugby union after leaving school, Rev...
and the Irish Rugby Team
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
.
Parodies
Londoners adapt the song for their own needs often in a light vein, the major change being the lines:As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through WealdstoneWealdstoneWealdstone is a largely working-class and recent immigrant district in the London Borough of Harrow, north west London.-History and name:The eponymous Weald Stone is a sarsen stone, formerly marking the boundary between the parish of Harrow and Harrow Weald...
and HarrowHarrow, LondonHarrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
An altered first verse of the song is usually sung by supporters of Bohemian FC in Dublin. The changes being:
- In Dublin's fair city,
- Where the girls are so pretty,
- I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
- As she wheeled her wheelbarrow
- Through streets broad and narrow
- Crying (clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap) Bohs (pronunciation / bo-iz /)
A similar version of the Bohemian FC chant is also sung by Gillingham (Kent) Football Club supporters, replacing the last line with
- singing (clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap) The Gills! (pronunciation / Jills /)
It is always sung at the lunches and dinners of London's '07 Club, which was founded in 1907 by staff of the London County Council.