Close to 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 neat from her two bare 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.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin town,
Na maid I've seen like the brown collen,
That I met in the country Down
As sho onward sped sure I sratched my head
And I said with a feeling rare,
Ay", says I to a passer by,
Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me, and then says he:
She'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,
Na maid I've seen like the brown collen,
That I met in the county Down
At the harvest fair I'll be surely there
And I dress in my Sunday clothes
With my shoes shone bright and my hat upright
And a smile from my nut-brown rose.
No pipe I smoke, no horse I'll yoke
Let me plough with a rust turn brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the Star of the County Down
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin town,
Na maid I've seen like the brown colleen,
That I met in 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