Molly
An unreleased song preserved through a surviving live performance.
Molly was written for Molly Harradine, an elderly artist from whom Michael Doyle rented a small art studio during his years on Sark. The studio was a wonderfully eccentric place, crowded with easels, brushes, paintings and the accumulated work of Molly and her late husband.
Molly herself became part of Michael’s creative life. She enjoyed hearing him play and particularly liked an earlier song, Every Man Needs Love. Her warmth, eccentricity and encouragement eventually inspired Michael to write a song specifically for her, simply entitled Molly.
The song was never professionally recorded or commercially released. A live performance does survive, however, from a later Guernsey Doghouse gig, providing a rare record of a song otherwise preserved principally through the memoir.
Listen and watch
Molly — Live at the Guernsey Doghouse
Surviving live archive performance.