The Star Of The County Down (Introduction)

Near Banbridge town in the County Down

One morning last July

From a boreen green came a sweet colleen

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, sure I shook myself

For to see I was really there

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay

And from Galway to Dublin town

No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen

That I met in the County Down

As she onward sped sure I scratched my head

And I looked 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 says, 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"

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay

And from Galway to Dublin town

No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen

That I met in the County Down

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 cocked right

For a smile from the nut-brown rose

No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke

To my plough rust coloured 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

No maid I've seen like the fair 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 fair Colleen

That I met in the County Down