Cotton-Eyed Joe

Cotton-Eyed Joe is a traditional American folk song, widely known for its infectious fiddle melody and repetitive lyrics asking where the titular character came from and went.

The song dates to the nineteenth century and has been recorded in countless versions, most famously the 1994 Rednex techno-country remix that became an international dance hit.

The phrase itself evokes a mysterious drifter figure—someone who appeared from nowhere and vanished just as suddenly: Where did you come from, where did you go?