Recorded by Lead Belly in 1940, "Cotton Fields" was introduced into the canon of folk music via its inclusion on the 1954 album release Odetta & Larry which comprised performances by Odetta at the Tin Angel nightclub in San Francisco with instrumental and vocal accompaniment by Lawrence Mohr: this version was entitled "Old Cotton Fields at Home".
Intro: Bb F7 Eb Bb
Bb
When I was a little bitty baby
Eb Bb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
F7
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
It was down in Louisiana
Eb Bb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
Bb
You can't pick very much cotton
F7
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
It was down in Louisiana
Eb Bb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
When I was a little bitty baby
Eb Bb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
F7
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
It was down in Louisiana
Eb Bb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
Bb
You can't pick very much cotton
F7
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
It was down in Louisiana
Eb Bb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
When I was a little bitty baby
Eb Bb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
F7
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb
It was down in Louisiana
Eb Bb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
F7 Bb
In them old cotton fields back home
It may sound a little funny
But you didn't make very much money
In them old cotton fields back home
It may sound a little funny
But you didn't make very much money
In them old cotton fields back home
I was home in Arkansas
People ask me what you come here for
In the old cotton fields back home
I was home in Arkansas
People ask me what you come here for
In the old cotton fields back home
