[Intro – 8 bars] [Low Irish flute plays the first line of the old melody, solo, over soft finger-picked guitar] [Verse 1 – voice close, almost spoken] In Camden Town on a quiet July night When the rain came soft and slow, She slipped through the door of the old Crown bar With a candle-light kind of glow. From her worn-out boots to the curls at her neck And the freckles the streetlights found, I forgot how to breathe for a heartbeat or two Just watching my world spin round. [Chorus – fiddle joins, gentle lift] From Dingle Bay up to the Giant’s Causeway, From Galway to Dublin Town, I’ve never seen eyes like the quiet green eyes Of the star of the County Down. [Verse 2 – low flute answers each line] I asked the barman, voice barely there, “Who’s the girl by the fireside light?” He smiled like a man who’d heard it before And said, “That’s Rosie Flynn, alright. She sings like the river and laughs like the rain, She’s gentle and wild and proud She’s the jewel of the north, the rarest of all, The star of the County Down.” [Chorus – harmonies appear, very soft] From Dingle Bay up to the Giant’s Causeway, From Galway to Dublin Town, I’ve never seen eyes like the quiet green eyes Of the star of the County Down. [Instrumental – 12 bars] [Low flute and fiddle trade slow phrases over brushed drums and rolling guitar arpeggios] [Verse 3 – even softer, almost a whisper] At the harvest moon I’ll find her again Down by the lough where the willows lean, I’ll wear my old coat and my heart on my sleeve And I’ll ask if she’d walk with me. I’d give every song I’ll ever write For one slow dance on sacred ground, Just to hold her close beneath Irish stars My rose of the County Down. [Chorus – full band but still tender, strings swell] From Dingle Bay up to the Giant’s Causeway, From Galway to Dublin Town, I’ve never seen eyes like the quiet green eyes Of the star of the County Down. [Final Chorus – key lifts gently to C, voice breaks with wonder] From Dingle Bay up to the Giant’s Causeway, From Galway to Dublin Town, I’d lay down my life in a heartbeat’s time For the star of the County Down. [Outro – extended instrumental solos] [Low flute reprises the opening melody → fiddle harmonises a third above → guitar arpeggios slow → single brushed snare roll → silence with distant rain on cobblestones]
