Cotton Eye Joe – Rednex

Rednex took this track to the top of the UK singles chart for three weeks in 1995.

(If this video fails to load, or you would like to watch a different version, search for Cotton eye Joe by Rednex on YouTube.)

Cotton eye Joe by Rednex replaced Stay another day by East 17 at the top of the UK singles chart twenty years ago this week. It had entered the top 40 four weeks previously at number 11 and broke into the top 10 a week later.

The song stayed at number 1 for three weeks and then made way for Think twice by Celine Dion. It then spent another four weeks in the top 10, three of them in the top 5, before dropping into the lower top 40 for the final three weeks of its chart life.

Cotton eye Joe was released on the Internal Affairs record label and was the only UK number 1 hit for Rednex. It was taken from the album Sex & violins, which did not enter the UK albums chart. The song is a traditional American folk song from before the American Civil War. The single was certified platinum.

More music from Rednex

 

More number ones from 1995

 

UK singles chart for the week ending 14 January 1995

1. Cotton eye Joe – Rednex

2. Think twice – Celine Dion

3. Love me for a reason – Boyzone

4. Stay another day – East 17

5. Here comes the hotstepper – Ini Kamoze

6. Set you free – N-Trance featuring Kelly Llorenna

7. Tell me when – Human League

8. Whatever – Oasis

9. Sympathy for the devil – Guns ‘N’ Roses

10. Them girls them girls – Zig and Zag

 

13. Glory box – Portishead