United States Song Words Previous Page Folk Dancing/Teaching Home Page
Cotton-Eyed Joe
Traditional:
Don't you remember, don't you know?
Don't you remember Cotton-Eyed Joe?
Cotton-Eyed Joe, he was some guy!
He was handsome and he wasn't shy.Chorus: He stole my money and my gal so fair;
//I hold my fiddle and I hold my bow
Whilst I knock ol' Cotton-Eyed Joe!//
I should be mad but I don't care.
Made some more money, hid it in a log,
Got another honey, went fishin' with my dog.
Chorus
Non-traditional:
Now I'd o' been married a long time ago,
If it had not o' been for Cotton-Eyed Joe.Chorus I gotta ball-been hammer and a two-by-four.
Where did 'e come from? Where did he go?
Where did 'e come from, Cotton-Eyed Joe?
Gonna whip the hell out o' Cotton-Eyed Joe.
Chorus
Salty Dog Rag
Away down yonder in the state of Arkansas
Where my great-grandpa met my great-grandma,
They drink apple cider and they get on a jag
And they dance all night to the Salty Dog Rag.
They play an old fiddle like you never heard before.
They play the only tune that they ever did know;
It's a ragtime ditty and the rhythm don't drag.
Now, here's the way you dance to the Salty Dog Rag!Chorus:
One foot front, drag it back,
Then you start to ball the jack.
You shake, and you break, and then you sag.
If your partner zigs, you're supposed to zag.
Your heart is light, you tap your feet
In rhythm with that ragtime beat.
(Just) pack up your troubles in your ol' kit bag
And dance all night to the Salty Dog Rag!
Away down South 'neath the old Southern moon,
The possum's up a tree and the hound's tree'd a coon.
They'll hitch up the buggy to a broken-down nag
And go out dancin' to the Salty Dog Rag.
They tune up the fiddle and they rosin up the bow.
They strike a C chord on the ol' banjo
Then holler, "Hang on, 'cause we ain't gonna drag!"
Now, here's the way you dance to the Salty Dog Rag!
Chorus
Previous Page Folk Dancing/Teaching Home Page