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                                 Patricia and James Cummings,  Concord, NH <>

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Cockles and Mussels

An old Irish folk song, sung by Patricia Cummings

Definitions from The New Oxford American Dictionary

Cockle:  an edible, burrowing bivalve mollusk with a strong ribbed shell.

Mussel:  any number of bivalve mollusks with a brown or purplish-black shell.

Fishmonger: a person who sells fresh fish for food.

In the songbook, Burl Ives Irish Songs (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1955, 1956, 1958, by Wayfarer Music Co., Inc), a variation of the third verse of the song, goes like this:

She died of a fever, and none could relieve 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, oh! "

pat@quiltersmuse.com

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