Lakes Of Ponchartrain

It was one bright March morning I bid New Orleans adieu

I was on my way to Jackson, my fortune to renew

I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain

Which filled my heart with longin' for the banks of Pontchartain.

I stepped on board a railroad car beneath the morning sun

And I rode the rails 'til evening and I laid me down again

All strangers there, no friends to me 'til a dark girl towards me came

And I fell in love with a Creole girl by the banks of Pontchartrain.

I said my pretty Creole girl, my money here's no good

But if it weren't for the alligators I'd sleep out in the wood

She said "You're welcome here kind stranger, our home it's very plain

But we've never turned a stranger out by the banks of Pontchartrain.

She took me to her mama's house and she treated me right well

The hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlets fell

To try and paint her beauty I know would be in vain

So handsome was my Creole girl by the banks of Pontchartrain.

I asked would she marry me, she'd said no it never could be

For she has got a lover and he's off far at sea

She said that she would wait for him and true she would remain

'Til he returned for his Creole girl by the banks of the Pontchartrain.

So fair thee well my Creole girl I'll never see you more

But I wont forget your kindness and the cottage by the shore

And at each social gathering a flowin' glass I'll raise

And drink a health to my Creole girl from the banks of Pontchartrain.