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It was one bright March morning I bid New Orleans adieu |
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I was on my way to Jackson, my fortune to renew |
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I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain |
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Which filled my heart with longin' for the banks of Pontchartain. |
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I stepped on board a railroad car beneath the morning sun |
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And I rode the rails 'til evening and I laid me down again |
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All strangers there, no friends to me 'til a dark girl towards me came |
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And I fell in love with a Creole girl by the banks of Pontchartrain. |
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I said my pretty Creole girl, my money here's no good |
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But if it weren't for the alligators I'd sleep out in the wood |
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She said "You're welcome here kind stranger, our home it's very plain |
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But we've never turned a stranger out by the banks of Pontchartrain. |
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She took me to her mama's house and she treated me right well |
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The hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlets fell |
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To try and paint her beauty I know would be in vain |
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So handsome was my Creole girl by the banks of Pontchartrain. |
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I asked would she marry me, she'd said no it never could be |
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For she has got a lover and he's off far at sea |
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She said that she would wait for him and true she would remain |
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'Til he returned for his Creole girl by the banks of the Pontchartrain. |
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So fair thee well my Creole girl I'll never see you more |
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But I wont forget your kindness and the cottage by the shore |
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And at each social gathering a flowin' glass I'll raise |
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And drink a health to my Creole girl from the banks of Pontchartrain. |
