Near to Banbridge Town, in the County Down
One morning last July
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so neat from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
Such a coaxing elf, I do shake myself
To make sure I was standing there

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin-Town
No maid I´ve seen like the sweet colleen
That I met in the County Down

As she onward sped sure I scratched 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 Ireland´s crown
She´s young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,
She´s the Star of the County Down"

At the harvest fair I´ll be surely there
And I´ll dressed in my Sunday clothes
And I´ll try sheep´s eyes, and delushering cries
To the heart of the nut-brown rose
No pipe I´ll smoke, no horse I´ll yoke
Though my plow with rust turns brown
Till a smiling bride by me own fireside
Sits the Star of the County Down