"Cotton-Eyed Joe"
Before 1861
History[edit]
19th century[edit]
The origins of this song are unclear, although it pre-dates the 1861–1865 American Civil War.[1] American folklorist Dorothy Scarborough (1878–1935) noted in her 1925 book On the Trail of Negro Folk-songs that several people remembered hearing the song before the war. Scarborough's account of the song came from her sister, Mrs. George Scarborough, who learned the song from "the Negroes on a plantation in Texas, and other parts from a man in Louisiana". The man in Louisiana knew the song from his earliest childhood and heard slaves singing it on plantations.[2] Both the dance and the song had many variants.[3]
A number of possible meanings of the term "cotton-eyed" have been proposed. The phrase may refer to: being drunk on moonshine, or having been blinded by drinking wood alcohol, turning the eyes milky white; a black person with very light blue eyes; miners covered in dirt with the exception of their white eyes; someone whose eyes were milky white from bacterial infections of trachoma or syphilis, cataracts or glaucoma; or the contrast of dark skin tone around white eyeballs in black people.[4]
American publishing house Harper and Brothers published the first printed version of the song in 1882.[5] It was heard by author Louise Clarke Pyrnelle (born 1850) on the Alabama plantation of her father when she was a child.[6] That 1882 version was republished as follows in 1910:[7]
Modern covers[edit]
In August 1994, the Swedish Eurodance group Rednex covered the song as "Cotton Eye Joe" for their album Sex & Violins, combining their style with traditional American instruments, such as banjos[16] and fiddles. In 2002, "Cotton Eye Joe" was remixed in a dance version and was released from Rednex's greatest hits album, The Best of the West.
There is a Crazy Frog cover of the song, based on the Rednex version on the Best Of Crazy Hits compilation album.
The Country and Irish singer Lee Matthews released his version of the song with new added lyrics. The single on his own independent label topped the Irish Country Singles Download Chart in January 2015.
Virtual band Gummibär also covered the song in their album La La Love to Dance.