It was one fine March morning I bid New Orleans adieu,
And I took the road to Jackson town, my fortune to renew.
I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain,
which filled me heart with longing for the Lakes of Ponchartrain.
I stepped on board of a railroad car beneath the morning sun.
I rode the rods till evening and I laid me down again.
All strangers there no friends to me, till a dark girl towards me came,
and I fell in love with the Creole girl by the Lakes of Ponchartrain.
I said "Me pretty Creole girl, me money here`s no good.
If it weren`t for the alligators, I`d sleep out in the wood."
"You`re welcome here, kind stranger, our house is very plain,
but we never turn a stranger out by the Lakes of Ponchartrain.
She took me in her Mammy`s house and treaded me right well.
The hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlers fell.
To try to paint her beauty, I`m sure it would be in vain.
So handsome was my Creole girl by the Lakes of Ponchartrain.
I asked her if she`d marry me. She said that never could be,
for she had got a lover and he was far at sea.
She said that she would wait for him and true she would remain.
Till he`d return to his Croele girl on the Lakes of Ponchartrain.
It`s fare thee well, me Creole girl, I never may see you more.
I`ll ne'er forget your kindness in the cottage by the shore.
And at each social gathering, a flowing glass I`ll drain,
and I`ll drink a health to my Creole girl by the Lakes of Ponchartrain.