Star of the County Down

Near Banbridge town in the county down One morning last July From a boreen green came a sweet Colleen But she smiled as she passed me by She looked so sweet from her two bare feet From the sheen of her nut brown hair Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself For to see I was really there From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay And from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen That I met in the county down As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head And I looked with a feelin' rare And I say's, say's I, to a passer-by "Whose the maid with the nut brown hair?" He smiled at me and he says's, say's he "That's the gem of Ireland's crown Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann She's the star of the county down" From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay And from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen That I met in the county down At the harvest fair she'll be surely there So I'll dress in my sunday clothes With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked right For a smile from my nut brown rose No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke Till my plough turns rust coloured brown Till a smiling bride, by my own fireside Sits the star of the county down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay And from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen That I met in the county down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay And from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen That I met in the county down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay And from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen That I met in the county down