NEW ORLEANS
(Newton Alexander,   1912)


I don't know what to do, 
I feel so doggone blue, 
I'd like to take a boat, 
I'd like to go a float, 
Along the Mississippi, to old New Orleans, 
Where I know I've got a good old Southern home; 
That's where I want to be, 
And you'll agree with me,
About that feeling grand 
When you put out your hand 
And find a Welcome there 
It's worth all you can give;
Well that's the way folks treat you down where I live.

About a year ago, 
I didn't even know, 
What money really means, 
Till I left New Orleans, 
And found that friends are few and people mighty mean, 
If you ain't got plenty of that old long green, 
I'm tired of roamin' now, 
And I just feel somehow, 
If I could lay my head 
On my old Southern bed,
I'd be contented there 
Until the day I die; 
Because it's Home, Sweet, Home, 
And that's the reason why.

New Orleans, New Orleans, 
In Louisiana a midst the Bayou streams; 
Little piccanninies playin' 'round your door,
Steamboat whistles tootin' 'long the river shore; 
New Orleans, New Orleans, 
There's always a Welcome for you there it seems, 
'Cause hospitality, is a reality, 
'Way down in dear old New Orleans.