Lyrics:
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Near Banbridge town in the County Down
One evening last July,
Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so neat in her two bare feet
And the sheen of her nut-brown hair,
Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself
To make sure I was standing there.
Chorus
From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay,
From Galway to Dublin town,
No maid I've seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.
As she onward sped, and I shook me head
And I gazed with a feeling queer
And I said, says I, to a passerby
"Who's your one with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me and with pride says he
"She's the gem of old Ireland's crown,
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann
And the star of the County Down".
Chorus
She'd a soft brown eye and a look so sly
And a smile like a rose in June
And you held each note from her auburn throat
As she lilted lamenting tunes.
At the pattern dance you'd be in a trance
As she skipped through a jig or a reel.
When her eyes, she'd roll, ah she'd lift your soul
And your heart, she would likely steal.
Chorus
At the harvest fair she'll be surely there
And I'll dress in me Sunday clothes,
With my hat cocked right and me shoes shone bright
For a smile from the nut-brown Rose.
No horse I'll yoke, or pipe I'll smoke
'Til the rust in my plough turn brown
And a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.
Chorus
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