This is a story written by my friend, Sam Greenspan of the RETRO NEWSLETTER. Thought I would share.
**** I hope this doesn’t ruin “Cotton Eye Joe” for you a quarter century later . . . or make you throw away your “Jock Jams” CD in protest . . . but the Rednex were not authentic rednecks. Or “rednex” if you want to spell it in their extreme manner.
And now it’s time to answer the questions: Where did they come from? Where did they go?
Like so many successful pop groups, the Rednex were actually a collection of Swedish singers. The one cosplaying as Mary Joe was actually named Annika Ljungberg. Bobby Sue was really Kent Olander. It goes on and on like that all the way down the line.
The Rednex were created by a group of Swedish producers who came up with the idea to turn American country music into European discotech tracks. They created several songs in that style (the Rednex debut album has the fantastic name “Sex & Violins”), but none had the international success of “Cotton Eye Joe”.
“Cotton Eye Joe” was a reimagining of a traditional country folk song called “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, which dated back to the 1880s. It may even predate that, as evidence points to the song’s origin coming from slaves in the South before the Civil War.
The title may have referred to a mysterious stranger or the name of a dance . . . or possibly even syphilis.
The origins aren’t definitively known, but the influence of this random Swedish pop group on the song certainly are. The Rednex version was a radio hit in the U.S. and the song has endured as a popular pick for stadium dance cams and comedic movie scenes.
Meanwhile, the Rednex are, shockingly, still an active group all these years later. They never had another major hit in the U.S., and they’ve only put out three studio albums in their 27-year career, but they remain something of a force in Sweden . . . where they’ve had five top 10 hits this century, including a number one hit called “Football Is Our Religion” in 2008. ****
