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