This is an old tune, going back at least to the 1880s in America. What does cotton-eyed mean? One story is that bad moonshine cause a drinker’s eyes to turn milky white. Another story says someone is cotton-eyed if his eyes turned milky from any number of diseases, including syphilis. There are lots of different verses for this one, as with many old time tunes. According to Wikipedia, these lyrics were published in 1882…

Cotton-eyed Joe, Cotton-eyed Joe,
What did make you sarve me so,
Fur ter take my gal erway fum me,
An’ cyar her plum ter Tennessee?
Ef it hadn’t ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I’d er been married long ergo.

“His eyes wuz crossed, an’ his nose wuz flat,
An’ his teef wuz out, but wat uv dat?
Fur he wuz tall, an’ he wuz slim,
An’ so my gal she follered him.
Ef it hadn’t ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I’d er been married long ergo.

“No gal so hansum could be foun’,
Not in all dis country roun’,
Wid her kinky head, an’ her eyes so bright,
Wid her lips so red an’ her teef so white.
Ef it hadn’t ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I’d been married long ergo.

“An* I loved dat gal wid all my heart,
An’ she swo’ fum me she’d never part;
But den wid Joe she runned away,
An’ lef’ me hyear fur ter weep all day.

O Cotton-eyed Joe, O Cotton-eyed Joe,
What did make you sarve me so?
O Joe, ef it hadn’t er ben fur you,
I’d er married dat gal fur true.

Here’s a Western Swing version by Asleep at the Wheel. Very nice pedal steel work in this one and a fiddle break that sounds like Shortenin’ Bread.

Now here’s more of a hard-core Old Time version by Jorsh123

Finally, here are the Skillet Lickers