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

5 [Chorus] I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low: 
6 I hear those gentle voices calling, 'Old Black Joe.' 

7 [Solo] Why do I weep when my heart should feel no pain 
8 Why do I sigh that my friends come not again, 
9 Grieving for forms Now departed long a go? 
10 I hear their gentle voices calling 'Old Black Joe.' 

11 [Chorus] I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low: 
12 I hear those gentle voices calling, 'Old Black Joe.' 

13 [Solo] Where are the hearts once so happy and so free? 
14 The children so dear that I held upon my knee, 
15 Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go. 
16 I hear their gentle voices calling 'Old Black Joe.'

17 [Chorus] I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low: 
18 I hear those gentle voices calling, 'Old Black Joe.'