Best Old Fiddle (Cotton-Eyed Joe)
Sung by: W.P. Detherow
Recorded in Batesville, AR, 7/19/52

The best old fiddle and the best old bow,
The best old fiddle in the countee-o.

My old fiddle is made of wood,
The best old fiddle in the neighborhood.

Your old fiddle is made of pine,
The best old fiddle exceptin' mine.

Homemade sugar and a puncheon floor,
I spend my money and I work for more.

Tune up a fiddle and I rosin up a bow,
And I knocked darnation out of Cotton-Eyed Joe.

I'd been married six or seven years ago,
T'hadn't a-been for Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Wanted to go to meeting and they wouldn't let me go,
And I had to stay at home with Cotton-Eyed Joe.