Smile o’ Molly Maloney, The

AKA
First Published1922

Writer/composerNeil McBeathRoudRN26813

Music Hall PerformersTalbot O'Farrell
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Dwyer, Mrs; Canada : Newfoundland; 1964
From Sheet Music:

Right in the heart o’the Emerald Isle
A colleen there lives with a wonderful smile
She has a lover who sings all the while 
When together they sit in the gloaming:

When the angels made your smile, 
My Molly Maloney 
They were singing all the while, 
Sweet Molly Maloney 
They surely work’d for weeks and weeks making those dimples that stow in your cheeks,
Then they sent you below to let the world know
Of the smile of Molly Maloney.

Molly has ways just as sweet and unique 
As the peaches that bloom on her cheek. 
Somehow you’d think she was too mild and meek 
To be told ev’ry night the old story:

A song from the 1920s associated with the singer Talbot O’Farrell, who performed many similar sentimental Irish songs. It also featured in the repertoire of Edgar Thomas and a number of other artists. Thomas’s recording is available below.

In 1964 it was collected from the singing of a Canadian singer, Mrs Dwyer, by Fred Earle and John Widdowson.

Edgar Thomas Parlophone recording from archive.com

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics and Sheet Music: Francis &Day’s Annual. no43, p20 (personal collection)

Last Updated on May 5, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: May 5, 2023

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