verse 1 Close 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. verse 2 She looked so neat from her two bare feet, to the sheen of her nut brown hair. Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself, to make sure 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 verse 3 As she onward sped I sure I scratched my head, and I said with a feeling rare. 'A-y-e,' says I to a passer-by, 'Who's the maid with the nut brown hair?' verse 4 He smiled at me, and then says he, 'She’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 Verse 5 At the harvest fair I'll be surely there, and I'll dress in my Sunday clothes. With my shoes shone bright and my head upright, and a smile from my nut-brown Rose. Verse 5 No pipe I smoke, no horse I yoke, let my plough with rust turn 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 brown 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 brown colleen, that I met in the County Down