Cotton Eyed Joe

Lyrics as sung by King Family in Visalia, 1941.

Where did you come from
Where did you go
Where did you come from
Cotton Eyed Joe?

I come from the city
I come for to show
Come from a place
Called cotton Eyed Joe

Cotton Eyed Joe had a new suit of clothes
Nobody knows where he got them clothes

Went to the country
Went to the show
Stuffed my gut
Full of sweet cake dough

Cotton Eyed Joe had a new suit of clothes
Nobody knows where he got them clothes

And here's the Ballad Index entry . . .

Cotton-Eyed Joe
DESCRIPTION: "If it hadn't been for Cotton-eyed Joe, I'd have been married a long time ago." "Where did you come from, where did you go...." Stanzas describe country life, fiddle playing, and attempts to outshine Cotton-eyed Joe
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Dyke's Magic City Trio)
KEYWORDS: fiddle music nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 104, "Page's Train Run So Fast" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 69-70, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 262-263, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 35, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (1 text)
DT, COTTNEYE*
Roud #942
RECORDINGS:
Arthur "Brother-in-Law" Armstrong, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (AFS 3979 B2, 1940)
Granville Bowlen, "Cotton Eyed Joe" [instrumental] (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Cotton Eyed Joe" (OKeh 45122, 1927)
Carter Brothers and Son, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (Vocalion 5349, 1929; on GoingDown)
Dyke's Magic City Trio, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (Brunswick 120, 1927)
Spud Gravely & Glen Smith, "Cotton Eye Joe" (on HalfCen1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Cotton-Eye Joe" (on NLCR10)
Elmo Newcomer, "Cotton Eyed Joe" (Cromart 101, n.d. but prob. mid-1930s)
Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (Victor 21469, 1928)
Bookmiller Shannon, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (on LomaxCD1707)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (Columbia 15283-D, 1928)
Art Thieme, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (on Thieme03)
Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (Columbia 37212, c. 1947)
Notes: Primarily a fiddle tune, with the sort of chaotic words one would expect of such a piece. I assume "Cotton-Eyed Joe" stands for something, but I've never heard an explanation. - RBW
It's been suggested that Cotton-Eyed Joe was a local character who was blind due to cataracts or another eye disease such as trachoma. - PJS