It was on one bright March morning I bid New Orleans adieu I took the road to Jackson town, my fortune to renew I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain Which filled my heart with longin for the Lakes of Pontchartain Well I stepped on board the railroad car beneath the morning sun And I rode the rails all evening and 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 Lakes of Pontchartrain Well I said my pretty Creole girl, my money heres no good And if it werent for the alligators Id sleep out in the wood Youre welcome here kind stranger, our house its very plain But we never turn a stranger out on the banks of Pontchartrain She took me to her mammys house and she treated me right well The hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlets fell To try to paint her beauty Im sure it would be in vain So handsome was my Creole girl by the Lakes of Pontchartrain Well I asked her if shed marry me, shed said this could never be For she had got a lover and he was far at sea She said that she would wait for him and true that she would remain Til he returned for his Creole girl by the Lakes of Pontchartrain So fare thee well my creole o girl I never see no more But Ill never forget your kindness, your cottage by the shore And at each social gathering a flowin glass Ill drain And drink a health to me Creole girl by the Lakes of Pontchartrain
creole, pontchartrain, lake, girl, stranger