Near Bambridge Town, in the County Down, one morning last July
Down a boreen green came a sweet collen and she smile 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 I was really there
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quai and from Galway to Dublin Town
No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down
As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head and I looked with a feeling rare
As I said, said I, to a passer-by, "Who's the maid with the nut brown hair?"
He smiled at me and he said, said he, "That's the gem of Ireland crown!
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann, she's the star of the County Down!"
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quai and from Galway to Dublin Town
No maid I've seen like the brown coleen 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 cocked right, for a smile from my nut-brown rose
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke, 'till my plough from a rust coloured brown
'Till a smiling bride by my own fireside sits the star of the County Down
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quai and from Galway to Dublin Town
No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down.
