Talk:Cotton-Eyed Joe

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Lyrics[edit]

  • 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)[reply]

-[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)[reply]

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.[reply]

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)[reply]

Urban Cowboy[edit]

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)[reply]

Media file link[edit]

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)[reply]

Age[edit]

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)[reply]


Possible POV[edit]

"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)[reply]

material from Phantom Ranch site[edit]

Here, for purposes of documentation is rollback material. "taking a "cotton to", or liking to, many ladies (thus the singer saying he would have been married a long time ago) [4]" Problem is, this site doesn't even suppose it's own premise about "cotton to", since it isn't in the lyrics of the song that is "cited". And even if it was, we are talking about a text from 1951, and lyrics from a song sung at Gilley's? Anyone can make up lyrics, but they don't belong in something that is putting the song in context historically.I have also been unable to find the Isaac Payton Sweat lyrics. It would be appropriate to list his version in an "additional versions" section Steve Pastor (talk) 20:19, 2 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Title[edit]

What is the title? The very beginning of this article says "Cotton Eyed Joe" while the very next paragraph starts with "Cotton Eye Joe"... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.185.250.81 (talk) 00:33, 28 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

possible meanings of cotton eye[edit]

Until I track this down - anyone can do it - I'm going to put text back as referenced before I was away for a month. Edits were made without much justification, far as I can see froma cursury look. The Fiddle Book (New York: Oak Publications, 1967). Marion Thede Collection, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Steve Pastor (talk) 00:09, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Origins of "Cotton Eyed Joe"[edit]

Recently I went to a Celtic festival here in Austin, Texas. There was a demonstration of Scottish dancing and the announcer said that the "Cotton Eyed Joe" originally came from Scotland (as something else). Does anyone know if this is true or not? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaorr (talk • contribs) 22:58, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds a lot like I'll Tell Me Ma (especially the version by Sham Rock) which seems to be an Irish folk song of similar vintage. If folks learn of origin information here it may be relevant to the origin discussion about that song. --WBTtheFROG (talk) 22:23, 6 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have not made any contributions to this article. I am reluctant to do so as I am having some trouble accepting the common wisdom that Cotton-Eyed Joe is an antebellum song. So I discuss. First publication (first mention of the song in any context) was the sheet music published 1882 by Harper & Bros. It speaks of a kinky haired gal running off to Tennessee with a broad-nosed man. How this could possibly have happened during slavery times, or how anyone in the antebellum south could dare to sing about it is a mystery to me. It's inconceivable to me that a white person would write about such things. Black authorship is much more likely, and doing so before the end of slavery would have been quite a stretch. The source referenced in this Wikipedia article is citing an academic researcher who published a songbook in 1925 (60 years after the war). That academic researcher is said to have learned Cotton-Eyed Joe was a traveling "Hoodoo Man" (that's antebellum? they allowed that back then?) and - I don't know - most likely would have relied upon the 1910 testimony of Louise Clarke Pyrnelle, who claimed that the Harper & Bros. lyrics were heard on her plantation prior to the American Civil War. The Pyrnelle claim is quite questionable logically, if you think about it. How did she happen to know the same version that Harper knew? Did Harper visit the same plantation, write down the song, and then say nothing about it for 20 years or more? In my experience, songs of folk origin change dramatically from decade to decade, even from one town to the next. Stating an antebellum origin for this song so matter-of-factly seems to me to be sloppy scholarship. I could just as easily guess that Harper & Bros. made it up themselves and rendered it in pigeon English because there was a market for that.Ramseyman (talk) 17:52, 22 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Poss. Vandalism[edit]

This music is currently playing on /b/. On that note, the song, and therefore this article, are under a higher chance of being attacked. Please can we get some more protection in on this article?--Graythos1 (talk) 14:18, 29 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Scratch that, it's gone.--Graythos1 (talk) 00:55, 30 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Romania[edit]

It may be worth mentioning that the Rednex version is played on maybe 80% of all Romanian weddings. Not sure how to get a quotation of this though. 78.96.192.108 (talk) 07:42, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Move discussion in progress[edit]

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Lindy hop which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 07:29, 27 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Michele Shocked-Arkansas Traveller[edit]

I have a Michelle Shocked album called ArkansasTraveller 1992 (marketed in Austalasia Mercury-Polygram records {314-512101-2} Track 10 is titled "Prodigal Daughter" with subheading "Cotton Eyed Joe". Andrea

Proposed merge with Cotton Eye Joe (Rednex song)[edit]

Not merged, proposal is stale. power~enwiki (π, ν) 01:05, 2 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Per WP:NSONGS Richhoncho (talk) 11:39, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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what if[edit]

what about the meme gedagedigedagedo it was based off of this song DoraTheMora (talk) 20:13, 13 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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