Lakes Of Pontchartrain chords by Paul Brady

Chords with lyrics

The Lakes of Pontchartrain - traditional American, most well known recording by Paul Brady

Standard tuning, I play this with a simple strumming pattern


    G+G   D MajorD      E minorEm  C majorC
It was on one bright March morning
  G+G   D MajorD     G+G
I bid New Orleans adieu
   G+G    D MajorD    E minorEm   C majorC
And I took the road to Jackson town,
  G+G    D MajorD   C majorC
My fortune to renew
 G+G     D MajorD    E minorEm C majorC
I cursed all foreign money
  G+G   D MajorD    C majorC
No credit could I gain
   G+G     D MajorD     E minorEm   C majorC
Which filled my heart with longing for
  G+G    D MajorD    G+G
The lakes of Pontchartrain

  G+G     D MajorD     E minorEm    C majorC
I stepped on board of a railroad car
  G+G    D MajorD    G+G
Beneath the morning sun
    G+G    D MajorD    E minorEm  C majorC
And I rode the rods till evening
    G+G    D MajorD   C majorC
And I laid me down again
   G+G    D MajorD     E minorEm    C majorC
All strangers there, no friends to me,
    G+G      D MajorD    C majorC
'Til a dark girl towards me came,
    G+G    D MajorD      E minorEm  C majorC
And I fell in love with a Creole girl
    G+G    D MajorD   G+G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain


  G+G    D MajorD   E minorEm   C majorC
I said 'My pretty Creole girl,
  G+G   D MajorD     G+G
My money here's no good.
     G+G        D MajorD  E minorEm  C majorC
And if it weren't for the alligators
     G+G     D MajorD   C majorC
I would sleep out in the wood'
     G+G   D MajorD     E minorEm  C majorC
'You're welcome here, kind stranger,
   G+G    D MajorD   C majorC
Our house is very plain.
    G+G   D MajorD    E minorEm    C majorC
And we never turned a stranger out
    G+G    D MajorD   G+G
On the lakes of Pontchartrain'

  G+G    D MajorD    E minorEm   C majorC
She took me into her mammy's house
   G+G   D MajorD     G+G
And treated me right well.
  G+G   D MajorD   E minorEm  C majorC
The hair upon her shoulders
  G+G     D MajorD    C majorC
In jet black ringlets fell.
  G+G   D MajorD    E minorEm  C majorC
To try to paint her beauty,
   G+G     D MajorD   C majorC
I'm sure would be in vain,
  G+G    D MajorD   E minorEm   C majorC
So handsome was my Creole girl
    G+G    D MajorD    G+G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain

  G+G     D MajorD    E minorEm  C majorC
I asked her would she marry me,
   G+G        D MajorD   G+G
She said 'This could never be'.
  G+G    D MajorD  E minorEm  C majorC
For she had got a lover
   G+G   D MajorD   C majorC
And he was far at sea.
   G+G     D MajorD     E minorEm   C majorC
She said that she would wait for him
  G+G     D MajorD    C majorC
And true she would remain,
   G+G    D MajorD     E minorEm   C majorC
'Til he returned to his Creole girl
    G+G     D MajorD   G+G
On the lakes of Pontchartrain


  G+G    D MajorD    E minorEm   C majorC
So fare thee well, my Creole girl
  G+G     D MajorD    G+G
I never may see you more
     G+G     D MajorD    E minorEm  C majorC
But I'll never forget your kindness
    G+G    D MajorD    C majorC
In the cottage by the shore
    G+G  D MajorD   E minorEm  C majorC
And at each social gathering
  G+G   D MajorD     C majorC
A augmentedA flowing glass I'll drain
     G+G    D MajorD      E minorEm   C majorC
And I'll drink a health to my Creole girl
    G+G    D MajorD    G+G
By the lakes of Pontchartrain