Near Budbridge town in the county down One morning last July Down a boring 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 winsome elf I'm ashamed of meself For to see I was staring there From Bantry Bay up the dirtiest quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen That I met in the county down As she onwards bit sure I scratched my head And I looked with a feeling rare And I says as I to a passerby Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair Well he looked at me and he said to me 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 the dirtiest quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen That I met in the county down She'd soft brown eyes with a look so shy And a smile like the rose in June And she sang so sweet what a lovely treat As she lilted an Irish tune At the lambeth dance I was in the trance As she whirled with the lads of the town And it broke me heart just to be apart From the star of the county down From Bantry Bay up the dirtiest quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen That I met in the county down At the harvest fair she'll be surely there So I'll dress in my Sunday clothes With my shoes shone bright and my hat cockerite For a smile from the nut-brown rose No pipe I'll smoke no horse I'll yoke To my plough as I rust on her brown And a smiling bride by my own fireside Says the star of the county down From Bantry Bay up the dirtiest quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen That I met in the county down From Bantry Bay up the dirtiest quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen That I met in the county down