In Banbridge Town, in the County Down one morning last July,
Down a bóithrín green came a sweet colleen,
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair,
Such a coaxing elf, sure, I shook myself
For to see she was really there.
Chorus :
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 feeling rare.
And I said, said I, to a passer-by:
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me and he said, said he,
"That's the gem in old Ireland's crown.
It's young Rosey McCann from the banks of the Bann,
She's the Star of the County Down".
Chorus :
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 a rust coloured brown,
And a darling bride by my own fireside
Sits the Star of the County Down.
Chorus :
