Near to Banbridge Town in the Country Down, onde morning in July Down a boreen green 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 coaxin' elf, I had to shake 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 solleen That I met in the Country Down
As she onward sped I did shake my head and I looked with a feeling quare And I said, said I, to a passerby \"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?\" She smiled at me and with pride said he \"That's the gem of Ireland's Crown\" Young Rosie McCann from the Banks of the Ban, she's the star of the Country Down
Chorus
At the haverst fair she will surely be there and I'll dress in my Sunday clothes And I'll try sheep's eye and delludering lies on the heart of the nut-brown Rose No horse I'll yoke, no pipe I'll smoke till my plough with the trust turn brown Till a smiling bride my own fireside sits the star of the Country Down