I wonder why I didn't post this. It's different from all the other versions that have been posted.
-Joe Offer-

The Lakes of Ponchartrain

By swamps and alligators
I took my weary way,
Through railway lines and crossings
My weary steps did stray.

Until the dawn of evening,
Some higher grounds to gain,
Till I fell in love with a Creole girl
On the lakes of Ponchartrain.
'Good eve, good eve, fair lady,
My money does no good,
Were it not for alligators
I'd sleep all night in the wood.'

'You are welcome, welcome, stranger,
Our house is very plain,
But we never turned a stranger out
On the banks of Ponchartrain.'

She took me to her father's house
And treated me right well,
Her yellow hair and ringlets fair
Down o'er her shoulders fell.

I tried to paint her beauty,
But ah, I tried in vain,
So handsome was my Creole girl
On the banks of Ponchartrain.

I asked her if she'd marry me,
She said that ne'er could be,
For she had got a lover,
And he was far at sea.

She said she had a lover,
True to him would remain
Till he'd return to his Creole girl
On the lakes of Ponchartrain.

'Good-bye, good-bye, fair lady,
I may never see you more,
But I'll ne'er forget your kindness
In the cottage by the shore.'

And in each social gathering,
A flowing glass I'll drain,
And I'll drink a health to that Creole girl
On the lakes of Ponchartrain.




Source: Paddy M'Closkey (Carnamenagh, Corkey, Co. Antrim), learned from Frank M'Allister (Car nagall, Corkey) c. 1905, learned when a woodsman in America.

from Sam Henry's Songs of the People