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It was on one bright March morning
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I bid New Orleans adieu
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And I took the road to Jackson town,
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My fortune to renew
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I cursed all foreign money
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No credit could I gain
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Which filled my heart with longing for
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The lakes of Pontchartrain
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I stepped on board of a railroad car
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Beneath the morning sun
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And I rode the rods till evening
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And I laid me down again
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All strangers there, no friends to me,
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'Til a dark girl towards me came,
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And I fell in love with a Creole girl
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By the lakes of Pontchartrain
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I said 'My pretty Creole girl,
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My money here's no good.
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And if it weren't for the alligators
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I would sleep out in the wood'
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'You're welcome here, kind stranger,
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Our house is very plain.
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And we never turned a stranger out
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On the lakes of Pontchartrain'
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She took me into her mammy's house
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And treated me right well.
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The hair upon her shoulders
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In jet black ringlets fell.
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To try to paint her beauty,
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I'm sure would be in vain,
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So handsome was my Creole girl
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By the lakes of Pontchartrain
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I asked her would she marry me,
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She said 'This could never be'.
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For she had got a lover
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And he was far at sea.
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She said that she would wait for him
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And true she would remain,
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'Til he returned to his Creole girl
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On the lakes of Pontchartrain
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So fare thee well, my Creole girl
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I never may see you more
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But I'll never forget your kindness
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In the cottage by the shore
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And at each social gathering
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A flowing glass I'll drain
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And I'll drink a health to my Creole girl
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By the lakes of Pontchartrain