Paul Brady
Lakes Of Pontchartrain Chords
The Lakes of Pontchartrain - traditional American, most well known recording by Paul Brady
Standard tuning, I play this with a simple strumming pattern
G D Em C
It was on one bright March morning
G D G
I bid New Orleans adieu
G D Em C
And I took the road to Jackson town,
G D C
My fortune to renew
G D Em C
I cursed all foreign money
G D C
No credit could I gain
G D Em C
Which filled my heart with longing for
G D G
The lakes of Pontchartrain
G D Em C
I stepped on board of a railroad car
G D G
Beneath the morning sun
G D Em C
And I rode the rods till evening
G D C
And I laid me down again
G D Em C
All strangers there, no friends to me,
G D C
'Til a dark girl towards me came,
G D Em C
And I fell in love with a Creole girl
G D G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain
G D Em C
I said 'My pretty Creole girl,
G D G
My money here's no good.
G D Em C
And if it weren't for the alligators
G D C
I would sleep out in the wood'
G D Em C
'You're welcome here, kind stranger,
G D C
Our house is very plain.
G D Em C
And we never turned a stranger out
G D G
On the lakes of Pontchartrain'
G D Em C
She took me into her mammy's house
G D G
And treated me right well.
G D Em C
The hair upon her shoulders
G D C
In jet black ringlets fell.
G D Em C
To try to paint her beauty,
G D C
I'm sure would be in vain,
G D Em C
So handsome was my Creole girl
G D G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain
G D Em C
I asked her would she marry me,
G D G
She said 'This could never be'.
G D Em C
For she had got a lover
G D C
And he was far at sea.
G D Em C
She said that she would wait for him
G D C
And true she would remain,
G D Em C
'Til he returned to his Creole girl
G D G
On the lakes of Pontchartrain
G D Em C
So fare thee well, my Creole girl
G D G
I never may see you more
G D Em C
But I'll never forget your kindness
G D C
In the cottage by the shore
G D Em C
And at each social gathering
G D C
A flowing glass I'll drain
G D Em C
And I'll drink a health to my Creole girl
G D G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain
