Christy Moore – The Lakes Of Ponchartrain lyrics

It was one fine March morning, I bid New Orleans adieu
And I took the road to Jackson town, and my fortune to renew.
I cursed my foreign money, no credit could I gain,
Which set my heart to thinking on the lakes of Pontchartrain.

I climbed on board of a railway car, beneath the morning sun
And I roved the rails till evening, when I laid me down again
All strangers there; no friends to me. Till a dark girl t'ward me came
And I fell in love with a creole girl, on the lakes of Pontchartrain

I said my pretty creole girl, my money it is 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've never turned a stranger out, on the lakes of Pontchartrain

She took me into her Mama's house, and treated me right well,
The hair upon her shoulders, in jet-black ringlets fell.
To try and paint her beauty, I knew it 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 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,
Til he'd return to his creole girl, by the lakes of Pontchartrain.

Fair thee well my creole girl, I'll never may see you more,
But I'll always remember your kindness, in the cottage by the shore,
And at each social gathering, a flowing bowl I'll drain,
And I'll drink a health to my creole girl, by the lakes of Pontchartrain.