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: C G7 F C
C
When I was a little bitty baby
F C
My mama would rock me in the cradle
G7
In them old cotton fields back home
C
It was down in Louisiana
F C
Just about a mile from Texarkana
G7 C
In them old cotton fields back home
F
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
C
You can't pick very much cotton
G7
In them old cotton fields back home
C
It was down in Louisiana
F C
Just about a mile from Texarkana
G7 C
In them old cotton fields back home
C
When I was a little bitty baby
F C
My mama would rock me in the cradle
G7
In them old cotton fields back home
C
It was down in Louisiana
F C
Just about a mile from Texarkana
G7 C
In them old cotton fields back home
F
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
C
You can't pick very much cotton
G7
In them old cotton fields back home
C
It was down in Louisiana
F C
Just about a mile from Texarkana
G7 C
In them old cotton fields back home
C
When I was a little bitty baby
F C
My mama would rock me in the cradle
G7
In them old cotton fields back home
C
It was down in Louisiana
F C
Just about a mile from Texarkana
G7 C
In them old cotton fields back home
G7 C
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
