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 coaxin' elf, I'd to shake myself,
To make sure I was really there.

Chorus:
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 in the County Down.

As she onward sped I scratch'd my head
And I gazed with a feelin' quare,
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 says 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.'

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 deludtherin lies,
On the heart of the nut-brown Rose,
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke,
Tho' my plough with rust turn brown.
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside,
Sits the star of the County Down.


abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Singing Together, Summer 1974, BBC Publications

Notes:
Identified as Irish.

Roud: 4801 (Search Roud index at VWML)
Laws:
Child: