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about
Irish musicologist Steafan Hannigan, helped out with the history of the song, and gave us this photo of a road between Belfast and Downpatrick in County Down.
Star of the County Down is a traditional Irish song, with a melody going back hundreds of years. The original lyrics are by Cathal MacGarvey (1866-1927.) In the original lyrics the girl is described with as brown, with bare feet. Variation on the lyrics have developed over time, and in many modern versions she is described as fair, with "white feet."
Thanks for that, Mr. Unusual Foot Fetishist!
We used the original chorus and first two verses but went with a modern version of the third verse. The original made the guy sound like an idiot, and I can completely get behind that changing over time!
The fourth verse is much the same, although we went with "harvest" instead of "crossroads," because a guy can meet at a gal at the crossroads any old time, but the Harvest fair is a special occasion. I wanted to make him wait a while to meet her!
Photograph of a road between Belfast and Downpatrick in County Down by Irish musicologist Steafan Hannifin, a goldmine of information on the history of the song!
lyrics
Near to Banbridge town, in the County Down
One morning inJuly
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so neat from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut brown hair
Sure the coaxing elf, I’d to shake myself
To make sure I was standing 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 in the County Down.
As she onward sped sure I shook my head
And I gazed with a feeling rare
And I said, says I, to a passerby
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me, and with pride says he,
"That's the gem of Ireland's crown.
She's young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann
She's the star of the County Down."
Chorus
She’d a soft brown eye and a look so sly
And a smile like the rose in June
And you crave each note from her smooth, bare throat
As she lilts a lamenting tune.
At the pattern dance you were in a trance
As she tripped through a jig or a reel.
When her eyes she’d roll she would lift your soul
And your heart she would likely steel.
Chorus
At the crossroads fair, I'll be surely there
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
And I'll try sheep's eyes and deludhering lies
On the heart of the nut-brown rose.
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke
Let my plow with the rust turn brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.
Chorus
.....For the curious folks who wondered about the original third and fourth verses, they are as follows:
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 Rose McCann.
I'd a heart to let and no tenant yet
Did I meet with in shawl or gown
But in she went and I asked no rent
From the star of the County Down.
At the crossroads fair I'll be surely there
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
And I'll try sheep's eyes, and deludhering lies
On the heart of the nut-brown rose.
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke
Though with rust my plow turns brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.
credits
released March 9, 2021
Lead vocals by Eve, recorded in her apartment.
Guitar, mandolin, percussion and back vocals by Paul recorded his studio.
Mixed and mastered by Paul Anthony
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