Paul Brady - The Lakes of Pontchartrain lyrics

T'was on one bright March morning
I bid New Orleans adieu
And I took the rode to Jackson town
Me fortune to renew
I cursed all foreign money
No credit could I gain
Which filled me heart with longin'
For the Lakes of Pontchartain
I stepped on board of a railroad
Car beneath the morning sun
And I rode the roads 'til evening
And I laid me down again all strangers here
No friends to me 'til a
Dark girl towards me came
And I fell in love with a Creole
Girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain
I said my 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 it's very plain
But we never turn a stranger out
At the Lakes of Pontchartrain
She took me to her mummy's house
And she treated me quite well
The hair upon her shoulders in
Jet black ringlets fell
To try and paint her beauty I'm
Sure t'would be in vain
So handsome was my Creole girl
From the Lakes of Pontchartrain
I asked her if she'd marry me
She'd said it could never be
For she had got another and he was far at sea
She said that she would wait for
Him and true she would remain
'Til he returned for his Creole girl
From the Lakes of Pontchartrain
So fair thee well me bonny o'
Girl I never see no more
But, I'll ne'er forget your kindness and
The cottage by the shore
And at each social gathering a
Flowin' glass I'll raise
And drink a health to me Creole
Girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain