Traditional American Folk - Lakes Of Ponchartrain lyrics

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