|
O it was one fine morning |
|
I bid New Orleans adieu |
|
And took the road to Jackson Town |
|
My fortune to renew |
|
I cursed all foreign money |
|
No credit could I gain |
|
Which had my heart a-longing |
|
For the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
|
I stowed aboard a railroad car |
|
Beneath the morning sun |
|
And I rode the rails 'til eventide |
|
'Til I finally lay me down |
|
No stranger would befriend me |
|
'Til a dark girl toward me came |
|
And I fell in love with a Creole girl |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
|
I said 'My bonnie Creole lass, |
|
My money 'tis no good |
|
And if it weren't for the alligators |
|
I'd sleep here in the wood.' |
|
'You're welcome here kind stranger |
|
Our house is very plain |
|
But we never turn a stranger out |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain.' |
|
She took me into her mama's house |
|
And she treated me right well |
|
The hair upon her shoulders |
|
In jet black ringlets fell |
|
To try to paint her beauty |
|
'Twould surely be in vain |
|
So handsome was my Creole lass |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
|
I asked her if she'd marry me, |
|
She said that ne'er could be |
|
For she had a lover |
|
Who was far away at sea |
|
She said that she would wait for him |
|
And true she would remain |
|
'Til he returned to his Creole lass |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
|
So fare thee well, my Creole lass, |
|
I'll ne'er see you no more |
|
And I'll ne'er forget your kindness |
|
In the cottage by the shore |
|
And at each social gathering |
|
A flowing bowl I'll drain |
|
I'll raise a glass to my Creole lass |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
|
I'll raise a glass to my bonnie lass |
|
On the Lakes of Pontchartrain |
