The Star of the County Down - John McCormack

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