Stephen C. Foster's granddaughter, Mrs. A. D. Rose, claimed that "Joe" was a real person, a servant in the home of Jane McDowell in the days when Stephen was courting her. Stephen had promised Joe that he would someday put him in a song. This was published in 1860. Background music is in the key of C
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4 5 -5 6 Gone are the days 6 6 -6 7 -7 -6 6 when my heart was young and gay, 4 5 -5 6 Gone are my friends 6 6 -6 6 -5 5 -4 from the cot-ton fields a-way. 4 5 -5 6 Gone from the earth 6 6 -6 7 -7 -6 6 to a bet-ter land I know, 7 -7 7 -8 -7 7 -6 6 -6 I hear their gen-tle voic-es call-ing 5 -4 4 Old Black Joe 6 5 6 6 5 6 I'm com-ing, I'm com-ing 6 6 -6 7 -7 -6 6 for my head is bend-ing low: 7 -7 7 -8 -7 7 -6 6 -6 I hear those gen-tle voic-es call-ing, 5 -4 4 Old Black Joe. verse 2 Who do I weep when my heart should feel no pain, Who 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. 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.
