Cotton Eyed Joe

     Many Old Time enthusiasts hate the Rednex version of Cotton Eyed Joe.  Why?  Well, for one thing it incorporates elements of--horrors!  Rock n Roll and even techno-punk.  So, although it was unquestionably born as an Old Time song, it might have lost some of its innocence.  

      Also, it happens to be the unofficial West Virginia University fight song!  You would think that that would endear the song to the local musicians, but maybe it has the opposite effect.   In fact, many of the Old Time musicians that I know are kind of anti-establishment free thinkers.  Why even the Village Elliot has been known to thumb his nose at our elected officials from time to time.  Not to mention the fact that the Rednex version probably made a ton of money, while even the best Old Time musicians don't get paid dirt for their music. 

     Finally, here is one other tidbit.  Did you know the Rednex is not even an American group?  Hurdy gurdy!  They are from Sweden!  Old Time music is not only old, it is regional.  So the songs that we like in West Virginia are substantially different from what they may like in say Texas or Louisiana, even within the same era.  But the Swedes seem to have no problem recognizing fun music and having a good time with it.  Plus, it probably pisses off their parents when the act too much like Americans.  So that may be why the European counter-culture has much in common with the humble people of West Virginia. 

   Here's Jay Jacobs, a well-loved sports personality, carrying on while the fight song is playing at a WVU basketball game.  I like the boxing pantomime, which should definitely be made into a line dance:

 The song itself dates to before the American Civil War, with at least some versions having been carried by African American slaves.  A book entitled "On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs" by Dorothy Scarborough indicates that it was sung by slaves in Louisiana.

     "Cotton-Eyed Joe" would refer to a blind man, with white eyes.  The Wikipedia article suggests that such a condition could result from  blindness from drinking wood alcohol or moonshine, or perhaps cataracts or some other disease or birth defect.  

    There are probably hundreds of variants of verses out there, but mainly they tell a lament of someone's romantic interest falling for the enigmantic Cotton Eyed Joe instead of him.  The Rednex version makes Cotton Eyed Joe seem like some kind of sexual superstar, whereas in the older versions it seems more inexplicable why the woman prefers Cotton Eyed Joe over the songwriter.  

    Musically, this song is played, like many tunes, is only played with five notes of the scale (pentatonic).  It can of course be played as a Bluegrass song, but it clearly has its origins in Old Time.  
     Back in the 70's, my friends from LaBash Music had a band with a guitar, fiddle/mando, banjo and bass.  But they had a set in which they played two and sometimes even three fiddles.  Cotton-Eyed Joe is ideal for the three-fiddle thing because of its simplicity and driving rhythm.  In my humble opinion, one of you bluegrass bands out there should try the three fiddle thing.  I guarantee that the crowd will go nuts if you do it. 

Pentatonic key of A.

A

If it had not been for Cotton-Eyed Joe
                                 E             A

I'ld been married long time ago
D

Where did you come from where did you go 

A                                                E                A
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe  

A

He came to town like a midwinter storm

D
He rode through the fields so hansome and strong
A

His eyes was his tools and his smile was his gun
 E                                               A

But all he had come for was having some fun 
He brought disaster wherever he went 
The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
and left only men cause of Cotton-Eye Joe