[Spoken:]
Ride this train to Bogaloosa, Louisiana
See these swamps and forest
Man's never set foot in a lot of it
You'll find alligator, mink, coon, possum, squirrel, otter and the lakes are full of fish
You'll find places so virgin and fresh
That you'd think the Lord just created it yesterday
As a matter of fact some people say when this world was made
A whole lot of it must have looked just like southern Louisiana does now
In 1788 I left Halifax Nova Scotia with about two hundred other Acadians
And we made a long, tiring journey south
In our party of two hundred there was this beautiful girl
That I just haven't quite been able to forget
Dorraine was her name and Dorraine and I were
Well we were kinda pledged to each other
And then we said when we got to the promised land
We'd build us a house and someday we'd have
The biggest sugar-cane plantation in the country
And I used to make Dorraine blush
When I'd tell her we'd raise the biggest family in the country too]
[Song:]
As I walked by the lake one day, by chance my Dorraine passed my way
Then she and I walked hand in hand on the banks of Ponchartrain
I pinned a flower on her heart, I swore we'd never be apart
She vowed her love forever and as I kissed her did the same
Dorraine, my Dorraine, my dark haired little angel
My belle of Ponchartrain
We sat down on the dock and with our hearts and fingers locked
We laughed and talked and joked about when our names are the same
And joking I said honey are you marrying me for money
And it took just one quick look to tell it hurt my dear Dorraine
She jumped and stood above me and she cried why you don't love me
I'm rowing home across the lake, you won't see me again
I called and called some more, but she rowed fast from the shore
And the clouds brought by a wind began to rain on Ponchartrain
Dorraine, I called Dorraine
Come back my little angel, my belle of Ponchartrain
The storm should make her learn that she should make a swift return
But as the rain fell harder, I lost sight of my Dorraine
As panic gripped my heart, I drew the oars and made my start
To look for her on raging water and the rain on Ponchartrain
At darkness I still called, but no one heard my cries at all
And when the daybreak came, then others helped me look for my Dorraine
But there was not a thing afloat except the oars from her rowboat
For all was lost upon the choppy waves and rain on Ponchartrain
Now I come day after day to where my sweetheart rowed away
And I gaze across the water of the rainy Ponchartrain
Just one thing and nothing more ever floated back to shore
Was this flower I hold, it is the one I pinned on my Dorraine
Dorraine, my Dorraine, my dark haired little angel
My belle of Ponchartrain