This version is more complete than the version I linked to above. Lyrics are copied from the sheet music at UCLA's Archive of Popular Music:


'WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS
Words and music by Henry Creamer & J. Turner Layton
New York: Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., ©1922.

1. Guess! Where do you think I'm going
When the winds start blowing strong?
Guess! Where do you think I'm going
When the nights start growing long?
I ain't going east; I ain't going west.
I ain't going over the cuckoo's nest.
I'm bound for the town that I love best,
Where life is one sweet song:

CHORUS: 'Way down yonder in New Orleans,
In the land of dreamy scenes,
There's a Garden of Eden; that's what I mean.
[§] Creole babies with flashing eyes
Softly whisper with tender sighs:
Stop! Oh, won't you give your lady fair
A little smile?
Stop! You bet your life you'll linger there
A little while.
There is heaven right here on earth with those beautiful queens*
Way down yonder in New Orleans.

[* On repetition of chorus, substitute this line:]
They've got angels right here on earth wearing little blue jeans,

"PATTER" [BRIDGE?]: The orange blossoms' sweet aroma
And the strains of La Paloma
Seem to throw me into a coma
When the shadows play.
Again I see a peacherino
Dance the you-know-what-I-mean-o
She could shake a mean tambourino—
So I hear the folks say.
But when those— [REPEAT FROM §]

2. Guess! What do you think I'm thinking
When you think I'm thinking wrong?
Guess! What do you think I'm thinking
When I'm thinking all night long?
I ain't thinking this; I ain't thinking that.
I cannot be thinking about your hat.
My heart does not start to pit-a-pat
Unless I hear this song: CHORUS

[This has been recorded many times, but usually as an instrumental or with the chorus only. Blossom Seeley recorded a version with the verse and bridge, although the words differ somewhat from those above. Bing Crosby's version includes the bridge, but no verse. Both can be heard on Spotify.]