Star of the County Down

In Banbridge town, in the County Down
One morning last July
From a bóithrín green came a brown cailín
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 shook myself
To be sure I was really there.

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.

 

As she onward sped I shook my head
And I gazed with a feeling rare
And I said, says I, to a passerby
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me, and he said says 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."

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.

 

Now I’ve travelled a bit but I was never hit

Since my roving career began

But fair and square I surrendered there

To the charms of young Rose McCann

I’d a heart to let but no tenant yet

Did I meet in me shawl or gown

But if she went then I asked no rent

From the Star of the county down

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.

 

At the harvest fair I'll be surely there
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
With my shoes shone bright my hat turned right
With a smile from the nut-brown rose
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke
To my plough it is rusten brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.

 

[chorus]

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the sweet cailín
That I met in the County Down.