Standard (EADGBE)
Gone are the days
When my heart was young and gay
Gone are toils
Of the cotton fields away
Gone to the fields
Of a better land, I know
I hear those gentle voices callin' me
Old Black Joe
I'm comin', I'm comin'
Though my head is bendin' low
I hear those gentle voices callin' me
Old Black Joe
Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no pain,
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again?
Grieving for forms now departed long ago.
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
I'm comin', I'm comin'
Though my head is bendin' low
I hear those gentle voices callin' me
Old Black Joe
Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
I'm comin', I'm comin'
Though my head is bendin' low
I hear those gentle voices callin' me
Old Black Joe