Near Oranmore in the County Galway,
One pleasant evening in the month of May.
I spied a colleen,
She was fair and winsome, she nearly stole my breath away.
She wore no jewels,
No costly diamonds, no paint nor powder, no none at all.
She wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and
Round her shoulders hung the Galway Shawl.
We kept on walking,
We kept on talking till her father's cabin came into view.
She said, "Come in sir and meet my
Father and play to please him 'The Foggy Dew.'"
I played "The Blackbird,
" "The Stacks o' Barley," "Rodney's Glory," and "The Foggy Dew."
She sang each note like an Irish linnet
Till tears came down from her cheeks like you.
She wore no jewels,
No costly diamonds, no paint nor powder, no none at all.
She wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and
Round her shoulders hung the Galway Shawl.
She sat me down, beside the fire,
I could see her father who was six feet tall.
Her mother soon heard the kettle singing
But all I could think of was the Galway Shawl.
I started off early next morning to take the road for Old Donegal.
She cried and kissed me and then she left
Me, as my heart lay tightly in her Galway Shawl.
She wore no jewels,
No costly diamonds, no paint nor powder, no none at all.
She wore a bonnet with ribbons on it and
Round her shoulders hung the Galway Shawl.