Star Of The County Down
I usually play this song with capo on 2nd fret.
Near to Banbridge town, in the County Down, one morning in July
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen and she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so neat from her two white feet to the sheen of her nut-brown hair
Sure 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
No maid I've seen like the brown Colleen that I met in County Down
As she onward sped, sure I shook my head and I gazed with a feeling quare
And I said, says I to a passer-by, who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?
He smiled at me and with pride says he, that's the gem of Irelands crown
She's 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 County Down
She'd a soft brown eye and a look so sly and a smile like the rose in June
And you held each note from her lily-white throat, as she lilted an Irish tune
At the pattern dance you were in trance as she tripped through a jig or reel
When her eyes she'd roll, she would lift your soul as your heart she would likely steal
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 County Down
At the harvest fair she'll be surely there and I'll dress my Sunday clothes
With my shoes shon bright and my hat cocked right for a smile from the nut-brown Rose
No pipe I smoke, no horse I'll yoke, let my plough with the rust turn brown
Till a smiling bride by my fireside sits 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 County Down