When first to this country as a stranger I came I placed my affection on a comely young dame She being warm and tender, her waist small and slender Kind Nature had formed her for my overthrow
On the banks of Bann water, where I first beheld her She appeared like fair Juno or a Grecian queen Her eyes shone like diamonds, her hair softly twining Her cheeks were like roses, or like blood drops in snow
It was her cruel parents that first caused our variance All because I was poor and of a low degree But I'll do my endeavour to earn my love's favour Although she is come of a rich family
My name is Delaney, its a name that wont shame me And if I had saved money I'd have plenty in store But drinking and courting, night rambling and sporting Were the cause of my ruin and absence from home Had I all the money that's in the West Indies Or had I the gold of the African shore I would spend it on pearls, and on you my brown girl For there's no other love in this world I adore
And now that I've found her I'm contented forever I'll put rings on her fingers and gold in her hair And we'll live on the banks of the lovely Bann river And in all sorts of splendour I will style her my dear.