Old Black Joe by Stephen Foster Lyrics

(Verse 1)
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 "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."

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

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