Star of County Down

Traditional Irish folk song.
Found in The Big Book of Irish Songs (Hal Leonard).

This song is sometimes sung in waltz time.


Lyrics

  1. Near to Banbridge town in the County Down
    On a morning in July
    Down a boreen green came a sweet caileen
    And she smiled as she passed me by
    Oh, she looked so neat from her two white feet
    To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
    Such a coaxing elf, had to shake myself
    To make sure I was really there

Chorus
Oh, from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I’ve seen like the brown caileen
That I met in the County Down

  1. As she onward sped, I scratched my head
    And I gazed with a feeling quare
    There I said, said I to a passerby
    “Who’s the maid with the nut-brown hair?”
    Oh, he smiled at me, and with pride says he
    “That’s the gem of Ireland’s crown
    Young Rosie McCann from the banks of Bann
    She’s the star of the County Down”
  2. At the harvest fair she’ll surely be there
    So I’ll dress in my Sunday clothes
    And I’ll try sheep’s eyes and deludth’rin lies
    On the heart of the nut-brown Rose
    No pipe I’ll smoke, no horse I’ll yoke
    Though my plough with rust turn brown
    Till a smiling bridge by my own fireside
    Sits the star of the County Down

Sung here by Fred Feild: