Near Banbridge Town,
In the County Down
One morning last July,
Down a bóithrí green
Came a sweet colleen,
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so neat
From her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair,
Such a coaxing elf,
Sure, I shook myself
To make sure I was standing 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 turned my head
And I gazed with a feeling rare.
And I says, says I,
To a passer-by:
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me
And he says, says he,
"That's the gem of old Ireland's crown.
Sweet Rosey McCann
From the banks of the Bann,
She's the Star of the County Down".
Chorus:
She'd a soft brown eye
And a look so sly,
And a smile like the rose in June,
And you hung on each note
From her lily-white throat,
As she lilted an Irish tune.
At the pattern dance
You were held in a trance,
As she tripped through a reel or a jig;
And when her eyes she'd roll,
She'd coax, on my soul,
A spud from a hungry pig.
Chorus:
I've traveled a bit,
But I never was hit
Since my roving career began;
But fair and square
I surrendered there
To the charms of young Rose McCann.
I'd a heart to let
And no tenant yet
Though I'd searched countryside and town;
But in she went,
And I asked no rent
From 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 horse I'll yoke,
No pipe I'll smoke
Though my plough with the rust turn brown,
Till a smiling bride
By my own fire side
Sits the Star of the County Down.
Chorus: