I'd sung "LAKES OF PONTCHARTRAIN" this way for a long time when I realized that the 3rd of January was our anniversary and it was now in the song.

This is sung to the tune of: "Come All You Tramps And Hawkers" (another change I guess).

It was on the third of January, I bid Cairo* town adieu,
Traveled down the river road my fortune to pursue.
No money in my pocket, no credit could I gain,
And my heart it turned with longing toward the Lakes of Pontchartrain.

I swung on board of an old boxcar just as the day did dawn.
I rode the rods from sun to sun, and I lit down again;
And as the shades of evening fell, the low ground I did gain,
And there I met the Creole girl on the banks of Pontchartrain.

I said, "My lovely Creole girl, my money does me no good.
If it were not for the alligators, I'd sleep out in the woods."
"You are welcome here, kind stranger, though our cottage is quite plain.
We never turn a stranger out to the wilds of Pontchartrain."

She took me into her mother's house, and she treated me right well.
Her hair hung down in ringlets and on her shoulders fell.
I tried to paint her beauty, but alas, it was in vain,
So handsome was my Creole girl on the banks of Pontchartrain.

I asked her if she would marry me, and she said that it never could be.
She said that she had a lover dear and he was out to sea.
She said that she had a lover dear, and there she would remain;
So I bid farewell to the Creole girl on the banks of Pontchartrain.

So adieu to you, my Creole girl, who I ne'er shall see no more;
But I'll ne'er forget your kind caress in that cottage by the shore.
And at each social gathering, a flowing bowl I'll drain,
And I'll drink a health to the Creole girl on the banks of Pontchartrain.
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(Cairo is pronounced "KAY-RO" or sometimes "CARE-O" in Illinois. That town, at the southern tip of the state, is where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi River.)
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Fleming Brown, who Frank mentioned earlier, had the worst association with words I ever saw. He was singing "THE GOLDEN VANITY"--back in '59. It's the great ballad about the warship that's threatened by another ship and the cabin boy swims over and sinks it by drilling holes under the water line. When he swims back, his own Captain won't take him on board---leaves him in the sea to drown. At one point, the cabin boy asks the captain what he'll give him to go over and sink the other ship. Fleming got as far as the line:

The Captain looked down, and the Captain he did lie,
5000 pounds and my daughter for your bride

At that point he sang one word wrong and made up a great line that did rhyme:

The Captain he looked down, and the Captain he did smile,
5000 pounds and my daughter for a while!

Fleming liked it so much he left it that way.

Art Thieme