in 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 brown colleen that i met in the county down as she onward sped sure i scratched my head and i looked with a feelin rare and i says says i to a passer by 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 brown 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 my nut brown rose no pipe i ll smoke no horse i ll yoke till my plough turns rust coloured brown till a smiling bride by my own fireside sits the star of the county down from bantry bay 