Old Black Joe

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Old Black Joe ("old black Joe") is a parlor music (salon music) song written by the American songwriter Stephen C. Foster (1826–1864) . It was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Company in 1853. The song celebrates the age and transience of existence from the perspective of the black slave in the cotton fields . It was pointed out that Foster was instructed to do this by a servant of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell from Pittsburgh was inspired.

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”.


Gone are the times when my heart was young and happy, My friends
have gone from the cotton fields, From the earth to a better land that I know,
I hear their voices call softly: "Old Black Joe".

Edition of Old Black Joe

text

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 those 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

Recordings

The song has been recorded many times. One well-known recording is by Paul Robeson , another by Jerry Lee Lewis .

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ stephen-foster-songs.de
  2. Jump up ↑ Joanne O'Connell: The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster: A Revealing Portrait of the Forgotten Man Behind “ Swanee River ,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” and “ My Old Kentucky Home ” . 2016, p. 126 .
  3. ↑ sound sample
  4. ↑ sound sample

Web links