Lyrics of 'Dorraine Of Ponchartrain' by Johnny Cash

Ride this train to Bogaloosa, Louisiana, see these swamps and forest
Man's never set foot in a lot of it
You'll find aligator, mink, coon, possum, squirrel, otter and the lakes're 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 just must have looked like southern Louisiana does now

In 1788 I left Halifax Nova Scotia with about two hundred other Acadians
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

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 waters
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
Twas 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