Foster's Melodies No. 49.
"Old Black Joe" (1860)
Song
Writtten and Composed by
Stephen Collins Foster, 126-1864

1.
Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away,
Gone from the eath to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling "Old Black Joe."

CHORUS
I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low;
I hear their gentle voices calling "Old Black Joe."

2.
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."

(CHORUS)

3.
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."

(CHORUS)