Our Whole World

The Star Of County Down

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  Near Banbridge town in the County Down  one morning last July
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 Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
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 And she smiled as she passed me by.
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 She looked so sweet from her two bare feet
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 To the sheen of her nut brown hair
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 Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself
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 For to see I was really there.
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              From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
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              And from Galway to Dublin town,
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              No maid I've seen like the brown colleen
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             That I met in the County Down
 
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 As she onward sped sure I scratched my head
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 And I looked with a feeling rare & I says, says I, to a passer by,
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 "Who's the maid with the nut brown hair?"
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 He smiled at me and he said, said he That's the gem of Ireland's crown.
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 Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,
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 She's the star of the County Down.  CHORUS
 
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 At the harvest fair she'll be surely there,
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 So I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
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 With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked right
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 For a smile from my nut brown Rose
 
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 No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke,
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 Till my plough is a rust coloured brown
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 Till a smiling bride by my own fire-side
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 Sits the star of the County Down. ..  CHORUS THRICE
 
 EXTRA VERSES
 She'd a soft brown eye and a look so sly
 And a smile like the rose in June
 And you hung on each note from her lily-white throat
 As she lilted an Irish tune
 At the pattern dance you were held in a trance
 As she tripped thru a reel or a jig,
 And when her eyes she'd roll, she'd coax, on my soul,
 A spud from a hungry pig!
 
 I've travelled a bit, but never was hit
 Since my roving career began,
 But, fair and square, I surrendered there
 To the charms of young Rosie McAnn!
 With a heart to let, and no tenant yet,
 Did I meet in shawl or gown,
 But in she went, and I asked no rent
She's the Star of County Down