Near Banbridge Town in the County Down
One morning last July,
Down a boreen 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, I was ashamed of 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 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, said 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 the nut brown rose.
No pipe I'll smoke, and no horse I'll yoke
Till my plough is rust coloured brown.
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Is 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