Cotton Eyed Joe dance steps from the website of the Folk Dance Federation


And two from the Wolf Folklore Collection . . . .

Cotton Eye Joe Sung by: Gus Mahon (with instrumental accompaniment); Recorded in Heber Springs, AR.

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.

(Fiddle Tune: "Tennessee Wagner")


Best Old Fiddle (Cotton-Eyed Joe) Sung by: W.P. Detherow
Recorded in Batesville, AR, 7/19/52

The best old fiddle and the best old bow,
The best old fiddle in the countee-o.

My old fiddle is made of wood,
The best old fiddle in the neighborhood.

Your old fiddle is made of pine,
The best old fiddle exceptin' mine.

Homemade sugar and a puncheon floor,
I spend my money and I work for more.

Tune up a fiddle and I rosin up a bow,
And I knocked darnation out of Cotton-Eyed Joe.

I'd been married six or seven years ago,
T'hadn't a-been for Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Wanted to go to meeting and they wouldn't let me go,
And I had to stay at home with Cotton-Eyed Joe.