Star of the County Down - The Maguire Brothers

Near Banbridge town, in the County Down One evening last July Down a bóithrín green came a sweet colleen And she smiled as she passed me by. She looked so neat in her two bare feet To the sheen of her nut-brown hair Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself To make sure I was standing there. From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down. As she onward sped I smy head And I gazed with a feeling queer And I said, says I, to a passerby "Who's your one with the nut-brown hair?" He smiled at me, and with pride says he, "She's the gem of old Ireland's crown. Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann And the star of the County Down." From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down. She'd a soft brown eye and A look so sly and a smile like the rose in June And you held each note from her auburn throat, As she lilted lamenting tunes At the pattern dance you'd be in trance As she skipped through a jig or reel When her eyes she'd roll, as she'd lift soul And your heart she would likely steal From Bantry Bay down to Derry 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 And I'll dress my Sunday clothes With my hat cocked right and my shoes shon bright For a smile from the nut-brown Rose No horse I'll yoke, or pipe I smoke, 'Til the rust in my plough turn brown And a smiling bride by my own fireside Sits the star of the County Down From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down. She'd a soft brown eye and A look so sly and a smile like the rose in June And you held each note from her auburn throat, As she lilted lamenting tunes At the pattern dance you'd be in trance As she skipped through a jig or reel When her eyes she'd roll, as she'd lift soul And your heart she would likely steal From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down. Near Banbridge town, in the County Down One evening last July Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín And she smiled as she passed me by. She looked so neat in her two bare feet To the sheen of her nut-brown hair Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself To make sure I was standing there. From Bantry Bay down to Derry 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 down to Derry 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 down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down.

I was born in the Dublin streets Where the loyal drums do beat And the loving English feet walked all over us Where each and every night When me dad would come home tight He'd call the neighbors out with this chorus "Come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra" Come tell us how you slew them old Arabs two by two Like the Zulus they had knives and bows and arrows How bravely you faced one with your 16-pounder gun And you frightened all the natives to the marrow "Come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra" Come let us hear you tell how you slew the great Parnell And showed him what was well and persecuted Where are the stares and jeers that you proudly let us hear When our heroes of '16 were executed? "Come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra" Come out you British huns, come out and fight without your guns Show your wife how you won medals up in Derry You murdered five young men and you'd do the same again So get out of here and take your bloody army "Come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra" "Come out you black and tans, fight me like a man Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra"