I stepped on board a railroad car
Beneath the morning sun
I road the roads till evening
A I laid me down again
All strangers there, no friends to me
Till a dark girl towards me came
And I fell in love with a Creole girl
By the lakes of Pontchartrain.

I said, "My pretty Creole girl,
My money here's no good
But 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 never turn a stranger out
From the lakes of Pontchartrain."

She took me into her mammy's house
And she treated me quite well
The hair upon her shoulders
In jet-black ringlets fell.
To try and paint her beauty
I'm sure 'twould be in vain
So handsome was my Creole girl
By the lakes of Pontchartrain.

I asked her if she'd marry me
She said it could never be
For she had got another
And he was far at sea.
She said that she would wait for him
And true she would remain.
Till he returned for his Creole girl
By the lakes of Pontchartrain.