Story Behind the Song
A very popular Guy-Gets-Smitten-At-The-Fair love song, this is a staple of Irish traditional singing. At their annual fair, the town of Banbridge, Co. Down, crowns a young woman with the title "Rosie McCann."
Lyrics
Near Banbridge town at the County Down one morning last July
Down 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 if I was really there
Chorus:
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 at the County Down
As she onward sped, sure I shook my head and I looked with a feeling rare
And I said, says I, to a passer by,"Who's the maid with the nut brown hair?"
He smiled at me and he said, 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."
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 cocked right, for a smile from my nut brown Rose
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke 'til my plough is a rust colored brown
And a smiling bride by my own fireside sits the Star of the County Down
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