Near to Banbridge town, in the County Down
On a morning in July
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
Oh, she looked so neat from her two white feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself
To make sure I was really there
Oh, 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 at the County Down
As she onward sped, I scratched my head
And I gazed with a feeling square
There I said, says I, to a passer-by
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair"?
Oh, he smiled at me, and with pride said he
"She's the gem of old 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 at the County Down
At the harvest fair she'll be surely there
So I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
And I’ll try sheep's eyes and deludhering lies
On the heart of the nut-brown Rose
No pipe I’ll smoke, no horse I’ll yoke
Though my plough with rust turn brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the Star of the County Down
Oh, 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 at the County Down
No maid I've seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down