Three cheers my boys for Bannow’s banks the place that I love best
And likewise you fair Ballygow I’m now bound for the West,
As I went down to Cullenstown to bid my friends farewell,
‘Twas there I spied the prettiest girl that e’er your eyes beheld.

As I went down to Cullenstown it was in the month of May,
I roamed for recreation and to watch the ladies gay,
‘Twas there I spied a pretty maid and she standing on a brown,
Her beauty bright did me delight that day in Ballygow.

I said my fair young girl I pray you to me tell,
Is it on Bannow’s lonely banks your parents they do dwell,
Or if you are a stranger here today I wish to know,
For the killing glances of your eyes have proved my overthrow.

Oh, no, it’s not on Bannow’s banks my parents they do dwell,
Nor either in Duncormick or yet in Gibberwell,
For I came here from sweet Kilmore kind sir you know it now,
I’m here today a servant, said the maid from Ballygow.

Well since you are a servant here you must come along with me
For I do wish with all my heart that you will marry me,
No more I’ll roam from Bannow’s banks where the tides do ebb and flow,
Or cross the stormy ocean where the wintry winds do blow.

Young man you are a stranger here and your offer I decline,
For you’ll sail the stormy ocean and you’ll waver with the wind,
And when you meet with pretty maids to them you’ll swear and vow,
And then you’ll leave me there to mourn said the maid from Ballygow.

So fare thee well sweet Bannow’s banks where dwells that comely maid,
Where oft’ times I had courted her down in yon fragrant shade,
I pressed her to my bosom and I kissed her burning brow,
But now I’m on the ocean and wild and she’s in Ballygow.