Unfortunately, due to a lack of adequate time and resources, I was unable to make a Cotton-Eyed Remix based on the Ella Jenkins and/or Nina Simone versions of the song by the end of Spring 2022 like I hoped. 💔 I still plan on making this song when I get the chance, but I can no longer promise a release date. My apologies, everyone.

2:34 Alabama native here. 'Cyar' is pronounced 'Ki'AIR', said rather quickly, and yes, it is the old southern way to say 'Carry'. So, Jo carried the girl all to way back to Tennessee.

It's definitely about moonshiners who got infected with STDs.. I've heard this phrase used when I was living in Alabama for almost 8 years. Not a common phrase used outside of Alabama except for a handful of Southern states where it is mostly used by moonshiners!!

I made a point some years back of collecting every folk verse to this song I could find, to stitch together my own. A few versions have a verse or two that imply the narrator not knowing where Joe went is a ruse - which I assume is a later addition to harmonize the fact that he went to Tennessee with the fact we purportedly don't know what happened. What's interesting is how these got fused together: by implying the narrator murdered Joe.

Very infromative, thank you!

what a great video, thank you for sharing! i was familiar with the rednex version, but never really thought about it very much, i just liked the rythm. and then, i suddenly felt curious and found your channel.

Thank for this!!

I have a few thoughts: I think it's possible that originally the narrator was a slave and Cotton-eyed Joe refers to a white man named Joe who has an "eye" or interest in women who pick cotton. He swoops in and takes the girl to TN leaving the narrator heartbroken. Perhaps later the song was appropriated so that now the narrator is a plantation owner and Cotton-eyed Joe is black. The girl in the song is the same as in the previous version except she has pledged to stay on the farm with the narrator/owner until Joe comes along and they flee to TN. I could be totally wrong, but just a thought.

Oooh, that was very insightful! I would give Rednex some leeway about their interpretation though, maybe the context of the song was lost in transmission, because they were just some europeans with an american song in hand, and they likely thought to just americanise that even more. Hence the lyrics seems more carefree in comparison to the original X'D Like, meme or not, i cannot blame them, it was the 1990s

I’ve always thought that it was only a rednex song

Doesn't anyone feel sorry for the narrator?

Great video, thx for all this information. For me Terry Calliers version is the best.

“If it wasn’t for Cotten eye I’ve been married long time ago where did you come from where did you go where did you come from Cotten eyed joe” are the lyrics

Cotton-eyed could be that he was soft on the eyes

So I definitely means that the narrator was in love with a girl and Joe was there, but there was a big glass table that Joe accidentally fell on it, and one of his eye was bleeding and that’s the end of the story

Gegagedigedagedago abi mery alongtamigo wede wude kamfro wede wude go wede jude kamfro bagulado

Gegagedigedagedago LORE😈

I think you are misinterpreting “sarve.” You said it was “starve” but I think it’s “serve” which would be more in line with Joe being a hired hand.

I am here in 2024 I can say the continuation is some broke guy in college found the song and made a chicken nugget sing it

its cotton eye joe not cotton eyed joe

This is not what cotton eye Joe means. Cotton eye refers to a cotton ball on the “eye” (hole) of their one eyed willie because of having an STD. Hence when it says where did you come from? Where did u go? I’ve been married a long time ago….