TRAVEL:
MOLLY MALONE:

Molly's visit to the city of Dublin would, of course, not have been complete without seeing the famous statue of her namesake, 'Molly Malone', the heroine of eponymous ballad. The statue was designed by Jeanne Rynhart and erected in 1987 as part of the 1988 millennium of the founding of the City of Dublin. It lays at the top of Grafton Street, near Trinity College.
Whether there actually ever was an historical Molly Malone, let alone the details of her life is an unknown. Many are the legends that have grown up. Some say she was a fish monger by day and a prostitute by night. If so many of her nocturnal customers would have been students from the notoriously ill behaved students of same. Others say that she was one of the few chaste female street vendors of the day (the 17th century). Many have claimed to have found records of her birth and death, but none of these have been verified.
The song Molly Malone has become sort of an unofficial anthem for the City of Dublin. It is sung by sports teams and their fans at sporting events.
The statue itself is a life size bronze with quite a prominent bust, earning it various nicknames such as "the tart with the cart", "the dish with the fish" and "the trollop with the scallops". But really, most of the monuments in Dublin have some sort of rather earthy nickname as well.
A good treatment of the legend, its basis or lack thereof, can be found HERE at Irish Historical Mysteries:Molly Malone. There is a downloadable MP3 of the song HERE. at Raccoons. And, of course, here are the 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,
And 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!"