This Famous Folk Song Generations Have Danced To Has No Known Author

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Whenever someone sings, "Where did you come from? / Where did you go?" it's all too tempting to hop right in and add, "Where did you come from, Cotton Eye Joe?" Most people know the song and at least some of the words, but nobody knows who wrote it.

The version that most people are familiar with is Rednex's "Cotton Eye Joe." From boomers to Generation X and Millennials, you can't help but bust a move to this '90s dance rendition of a folk classic. Yeah, it's powered by a gallon of Europop, but the banjo and violin make it that much more palatable. While they might be '90s musicians we completely forgot about now, Rednex made bank on "Cotton Eye Joe" and hit the No. 25 position on the Billboard Hot 100, but the song never belonged to the Swedish outfit.

Originally titled "Cotton-Eyed Joe," this track has a rich history that extends much further back than the mid '90s — before the Chieftains and Ricky Skaggs covered it in 1992 or even the Moody Brothers in 1985. The problem is the trail goes cold after a few decades back, and there are disputes over where it may have originated from. Honestly, where did you come from, Cotton-Eyed Joe?

One of the earliest mentions of "Cotton-Eyed Joe" arrived in the 1882 novel "Diddie, Dumps & Tot; or Plantation Child-life" by Louise Clarke Pyrnelle. In the book, Pyrnelle writes, "The tune that they danced by was 'Cotton-eyed Joe,' and, the words being familiar to all of them as they danced they sang," then she lists the lyrics to a version of the song that's slightly different from the one most listeners are familiar with. Pyrnelle's stories pulled from her time as a child around an antebellum plantation, so she likely heard "Cotton-Eyed Joe" there.

Having said that, the music for "Cotton-Eyed Joe" might have originated from Ireland — or at the very least been inspired by an old Irish reel. According to Grady McWhiney's "Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South," when the Chieftains' Paddy Moloney heard the song for the first time, he instantly linked it to the old Irish folk tune "The Mountain Top."

If we were to make an educated guess here, it appears that "Cotton-Eyed Joe" as we know it is cobbled together from different parts and influences that have evolved over the years. However, much like "House of the Rising Sun" is one of folk rock's most-covered songs that has no known author, the same is true of "Cotton-Eyed Joe."