There's a bronze statue of her at the bottom of Grafton Street in Dublin, wheelbarrow and all, and tourists rub it for luck. That's how big this song is — the heroine has a statue, a nickname ("the tart with the cart," which Dubliners say with great affection), and a melody that half the planet can hum. Molly Malone is Dublin's unofficial anthem, and it's the song most likely to get a whole pub swaying with arms around shoulders.
It tells the story of a beautiful fishmonger who wheels her barrow through the streets of Dublin crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o," dies young of a fever, and whose ghost still wheels that barrow through the city. It's a sad story sung joyfully, which is a very Irish thing to do.
A Bit of History
Despite the Victorian-Dublin setting, there's no real evidence Molly was a historical person, though that hasn't stopped anyone. The song as we know it was published in the 1880s and is generally credited to the Scottish songwriter James Yorkston, but it slipped so completely into the oral tradition that it's sung as a pure folk song now — nobody at a session is thinking about copyright, they're thinking about the harmony on "alive, alive-o."
Attempts have been made over the years to prove a "real" Molly existed in the 17th century. They're mostly wishful. The truth is she's a character who became real by being sung about so often — which is the most folk-song thing imaginable.
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 wheelbarrow, Through streets broad and narrow, Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o!"
Alive, alive-o! Alive, alive-o! Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o!"
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-o!"
(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-o!"
(chorus)
How to Sing It
This one's all about the chorus. Everybody gets the "alive, alive-o" — it's practically law — so let it build. The verses can be sung solo or quiet; the chorus belongs to the whole room. It's gentler than the Rattlin' Bog or The Wild Rover, so it works well early in a night, or right at the end when everyone's a bit emotional and wants a song they can lean into together.
Slán go fóill, BogLord2002