Near Oranmore, in the county Galway, one pleasant evening in the month of May.
I spied a damsel, she was fair and handsome, and her beauty almost took my breath away.
She wore no jewels, no costly diamonds, no paint nor powder and none at all.
But she wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and round her shoulder was the Galway Shawl.
As we were walking, we kept on talking till her father's cottage, came into view.
She said, "Come in sir and meet my father and play to please him 'The Foggy Dew.'"
Then we sat down beside the hard stone beside her father, he was six feet tall.
Her mother soon heard the kettle boiling and I kept on thinking of the Galway Shawl.
She wore no jewels, no costly diamonds, no paint nor powder and none at all.
But she wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and round her shoulder was the Galway Shawl.
I played "The Blackbird", "The Stack of Barley", "Rodney's Favourite" and "The Foggy Dew."
She sang each note, like an Irish linnet till the tears came down from, her eyes so blue.
'Twas early, early, all in the morning, I took the road for Old Donegal.
She said, "Goodbye sir." She cried and kissed me but my heart remained with the Galway Shawl.
She wore no jewels, no costly diamonds, no paint nor powder and none at all.
But she wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and round her shoulder was the Galway Shawl.
And round her shoulder was the Galway Shawl.