19th century The origins of this song are unclear, although it predates the 1861–1865
American Civil War. American
folklorist Dorothy Scarborough (1878–1935) noted in her 1925 book
On the Trail of Negro Folk-songs that several people remembered hearing the song before the war. Scarborough's account of the song came from her sister, Mrs. George Scarborough, who learned the song from "the Negroes on a plantation in Texas, and other parts from a man in Louisiana". The man in Louisiana knew the song from his earliest childhood and heard slaves singing it on
plantations. Both the dance and the song had many variants. The melody of the song may have originated in Ireland. Paddy Moloney of
The Chieftains was on tour in Texas when he heard the song and immediately identified it as an old Irish folk melody, "The Mountain Top". A number of possible meanings of the term "cotton-eyed" have been proposed. The phrase may refer to: being drunk on
moonshine, or having been blinded by drinking
wood alcohol, turning the eyes milky white; a black person with very light blue eyes; miners covered in dirt with the exception of their white eyes; someone whose eyes were milky white from bacterial infections of
trachoma or
syphilis,
cataracts or
glaucoma; or the contrast of dark skin tone around white eyeballs in black people. American publishing house
Harper and Brothers published the first printed version of the song in 1882. It was heard by author
Louise Clarke Pyrnelle (born 1850) on the
Alabama plantation of her father when she was a child. That 1882 version was republished as follows in 1910: The lyrics of this version, in non-dialectal standard
American English are: By 1884, the fiddle-based song was referred to as "an old, familiar air". In 1925, another version was recorded by folklorist Dorothy Scarborough and published. Scarborough noted that the song seemed to be well known in the South prior to the Civil War, and parts of it had been sent in by various persons. A resident of
Central Texas who learned the dance in
Williamson County in the early 1880s described it as nothing but a heel and toe "poker" with fringes added. These fringes added to the heel and toe polka were clog steps which required skill and extraversion on the part of the dancer.
20th century and his
Skillet Lickers (1929). During the first half of the 20th century, the song was a widely known folk song all over English-speaking North America. One discography lists 134 recorded versions released since 1950. In more recent decades, the song has waned in popularity in most regions except some parts of the
American South, where it is still a popular folk song.
Bob Wills and
Adolph Hofner and his San Antonians both recorded the song, and according to music historian Bill C. Malone, Hofner's 1941 version was the one that did the most to popularize the song. A 1967 instrumental version of the song by Al Dean inspired a new round dance polka for couples. A circle dance called "Cotton-Eyed Joe" can be found in the 1975 edition of
Encyclopedia of Social Dance. The men stand on the inside of a circle facing out, and the women stand on the outside facing in; both circles follow a sequence of kick steps and struts. == See also ==