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: Eb Bb7 Ab Eb
Eb
When I was a little bitty baby
Ab Eb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
Bb7
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
It was down in Louisiana
Ab Eb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Bb7 Eb
In them old cotton fields back home
Ab
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
Eb
You can't pick very much cotton
Bb7
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
It was down in Louisiana
Ab Eb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Bb7 Eb
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
When I was a little bitty baby
Ab Eb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
Bb7
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
It was down in Louisiana
Ab Eb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Bb7 Eb
In them old cotton fields back home
Ab
Now, when them cotton bolls get rotten
Eb
You can't pick very much cotton
Bb7
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
It was down in Louisiana
Ab Eb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Bb7 Eb
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
When I was a little bitty baby
Ab Eb
My mama would rock me in the cradle
Bb7
In them old cotton fields back home
Eb
It was down in Louisiana
Ab Eb
Just about a mile from Texarkana
Bb7 Eb
In them old cotton fields back home
Bb7 Eb
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
