Talk:Cotton-Eyed Joe

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Contents

[edit] Lyrics

  • Eighteen, nineteen, twenty years ago,
  • . . . run away with Cotton Eye Joe.
  • Had not a-been for Cotton Eye Joe,
  • I'd been married a long time ago.
  • Hold my fiddle and a-hold my bow,
  • Gonna beat the devil out of Cotton Eye Joe.

--68.207.206.69 08:35, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] -

I would like to note that a public domain version of this song is available on Wikipedia Commons, and can be added to this article. See Media:Cotton-EyedJoe.ogg. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) | (contribs) 13:45, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

What's the deal with this: "the Paramus, NJ favorite, 'Blue Champagne' by Frank L. Ryerson." Why is that song a Paramus, NJ favorite?

This page doesn't answer any of the crucial questions surrounding Cotton Eyed Joe. Who is he? Where did he come from? Where did he go? And more importantly, is the cotton eye metaphorical or is there actually cotton in this fellow's eye? Also what role did he play in preventing the narrarrator's marriage? Is it a reference to the cotton engine and/or farming, or is the whole thing just nonsense written by some guy on "cough medicine" of the 19th century? --Albatross83 21:32, 27 June 2006 (UTC) I've read that Cotton-Eyed Joe's lyrics were often made up or improvised on the spot[1], hence the many different variations we've heard. Each time the fiddler would try to 'improve' the lyrics. There doesn't seem to be any 'original' lyrics.

The Wikipedia entry for Hootenanny says:

In the Midwestern portion of the United States, a hootenanny refers to a post-harvest festival. Corn, pork from hogs, and elephant ears are standard food for this event. The climax of the evening after hours of dancing and the consumption of alcohol is the playing of the song “Cotton Eye Joe.”

If someone knows that is true, please add the fact to the article on Cotton-Eyed Joe as well. --GCL 23:03, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Urban Cowboy

Cotton Eye Joe is not on the soundtrack of this film. [2]. Cotton Eye Joe is a "pattern partner dance" which can be danced solo. More to come. Steve Pastor 19:25, 11 March 2007 (UTC) There is at least one web site that incorrectly states that a line dance is done to Cotton Eye Joe. The correct description of Cotton Eye Joe is a "spoke-line" dance. [3] There is a Line Dance with the name Cotton Eye Joe, but the partner or "spoke-line" version the one that people actually do. "Spoke-line" is more correct because the dance is progressive. In a line dance people are in lines that all face the same wall. In the "spoke-line" arragement, people are dancing in concentric circles. Also, the Rednex version of the song was not relased until 1994, so it has next to nothing to do with Urban Cowboy. Steve Pastor 18:27, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Media file link

Just wanted to note that I removed the text regarding the media link not working, as it seemed more appropriate for a talk page -- or edit. As a side note, the 'play in brower' link worked just fine for me so I can't verify whether there's a problem or not. Adiay 04:41, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Age

A whole hell of a lot of secondary sources from the early twentieth century claim the song is antebellum, but the earliest reference to it that I'm aware of is from 1875 when it was apparently mentioned in the Saturday Evening Post. Clearly it's old enough that people would have gotten the reference then, but can anyone prove it predates the War Between the States? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Teucer (talk • contribs) 17:23, August 25, 2007 (UTC)


"Proof" is not required. What is required is a verifiable reference to an acceptable source. So a reference pointing to "Abstracts from the Canadian Society for Traditional Music Conference 2002", the listed reference for the age of the song isn't good enough? I suppose you could track down the entire article (which probably has a list of references itself), but if isn't available to the public, such as in Jstor, it wouldn't be much good as verifiable. Maybe you could contact "Folklorist Dorothy Scarborough"? If you do pursue this, please let us know what you find. Steve Pastor 22:57, 4 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Possible POV

"They changed some of the formations from couple to spoke-lines and altered the steps to fit, so that lines made up of happy single dancers could link arms around each other's waists and prance or glide happily around the hall."

There is no evidence to support that any of the dancers involved were happy. Many might have been quite miserable. It's possible that they didn't prance so much as glide their way through the hall. Many of them may have been stompers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.239.169.45 (talk) 06:42, 26 January 2008 (UTC)