How to Play Molly Malone on the 12 Hole Ocarina

About Molly Malone

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A friend taught me this Irish folk song at a scout campout, and I still get a kick out of it every time I sing it. Molly is a Dublin fishmonger pushing her barrow and calling out her wares, and the city has taken her to heart: a bronze statue of her stands in the center of town.

The tab keeps between C and high C, so it never reaches the thumb holes or needs the sub-holes on a 12-hole ocarina. Its one accidental shows up written two ways, as A# in some places and Bb in others, but it is the same pitch and the same fingering. The words are printed under the notes, which helps if you want to sing a verse and then play it.

Molly Malone Lyrics

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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,
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!”

Molly Malone Ocarina Tab

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Spot a mistake in this tab? Let me know.