Paul Brady - The Lakes of Pontchartrain - New Recording lyrics

It was on one bright 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 my heart with longing For the lakes of Pontcahrtrain 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 a Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain I said my pretty Creole girl My money here's no good And 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 turned a stranger out On the banks of Pontchartrain " She took me into her mammy's house And she treated me right well The hair upon her shoulders In jet black ringlets fell To try to paint her beauty I'm sure 't would be in vain So handsome was my Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain I asked her if she'd marry me She said that 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 she would remain Till he'd return to his Creole girl By the Lakes of Pontchartrain So fare thee well, my bonny own girl I never may see you more But I'll ne'er forget your kindness In the cottage by the shore And at each social gathering A flowing gla** I'll drain And I'll drink a health to my Creole girl By the lakes of Pontchartrain