“Old Black Joe” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Old Black Joe” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Performer: Paul Robeson.
Lyrics: Stephen Foster.
Tune: Stephen Foster.
Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay;
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away;
Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling, “Poor Old Joe.”
I’m coming; I’m coming, for my head is bending low;
I hear their gentle voices calling, “Poor Old 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, “Poor Old Joe.”
I’m coming; I’m coming, for my head is bending low;
I hear their gentle voices calling, “Poor Old Joe.”
Where are the hearts once so happy and free?
The children, so dear, that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has long’d to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling, “Poor Old Joe.”
I’m coming; I’m coming, for my head is bending low;
I hear their gentle voices calling, “Poor Old Joe.”