Star of the County Down Lyrics

Near Banbridge Town in the county down one morning last July

Down a boarding green came a sweet colleen and she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet in her two bare feet, to the fringe of her nut-brown hair,
Young Rosee McCann from the banks of the Bann; she's the star of the County down.
[Refrain: From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay, from Galway to Dublin town, No maid I have seen like the fairy colleen that I met in the county down.]

As she onward sped sure I scratched my head and I looked with a feeling rare:
"Ay" says, says I to a passer-by, "Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
And he smiled at me and he says, says he: "that's the gem if an Irelands crown!"
It's Rosee McCann from the banks of the Bann - she's the star of the county down.
[Refrain]

At the harvest fair she'll be surely there and I'll dress in my Sunday clothes,
With my shoes shone bright and my hat upright for a smile from my nut-brown rose.
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke, till my plough was a rust-coloured brown,
‘Till a smiling bride by my own fireside is the star of the county down.
[Refrain: 2x]