The verses to Cotton Eyed Joe were often made up on the spot, according to a couple of old geezers who used to call square dances for us. Apparently they took great pride in "improving" the words each time, and would have to continue rapping out verses until either the fiddler or the dancers called it quits. I can see how some versions of the lyrics could be interpreted as having racial stereotypes, but neither of our callers (both of mixed heritage, btw) seemed to mind. The words are really secondary to the dance tune for this particular song. To me the music of that era became one of the tools of integration, and the words are part of our history.
I hadn't thought of that slow Burl Ives version for years, but still wouldn't consider it politically incorrect.
That modern line-dance routine and the "BS" call were invented back in the late '70s as country music's response to disco dancing. Gilley's was a wild place back then, you really had to be there to get the full flavor. We'd play CEJ for 10 minutes and then get requests for Harlem Shuffle (as if we were actually going to try that on banjo/fiddle, guitar and bass). Hearing CEJ sandwiched between songs like Boogie Fever and Brick House at a local disco wouldn't have been unusual in the early '80s (at least around here, anyway.) CEJ is just one of those timelessly good dance tunes.
~S~