by Stephen C. Foster
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.”
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.”
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.”
(Click here for a PDF version of the sheet music) * (Click here to hear an instrumental MP3)
Stephen C. Foster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Stephen C. Foster was the greatest American songwriter to his time. From about 1848 to 1855, his works were on everyone’s lips, and his songs were consistent hits. Songs like “Oh, Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Old Folks at Home” were found in every piano bench, and are still remembered today.
But, by 1860, Foster — who was certainly an alcoholic, probably depressive, and very likely autistic — was burned out. He had tried to go “respectable,” and it had failed; people wanted his plantation songs. And his creativity had been drowned in liquor, and he had no ability to manage his finances or his life.
There was to be one more hit. “Old Black Joe” sounds like a plantation song, and it has been treated as one — but Foster wrote it in proper English, not dialect. There is no direct reference to slavery, either; if Joe weren’t Black, he might be anyone. In any case, it is a dignified song with a truly brilliant Foster melody.
1860 cover of “Old Black Joe” by Stephen C. Foster. Photo credit: Wikipedia
And so it endured, at a time when Foster was desperately cranking out forgotten trash like “Parthenia to Ingomar” and “Lizzie Dies To-Night” and “Merry Little Birds Are We.” Even “Beautiful Dreamer,” now considered a classic, languished on the shelf because, by 1862, publishers weren’t confident that any additional Foster songs would sell. “Old Black Joe” was the last true hit of Foster’s career.
Source: The text is M. C. Dean’s, and is very close to Foster’s original. The tune is taken from the original sheet music, with a little bit of fiddling with the timing (folk songs don’t have sixteenth notes…); also, I transposed it from D (too high for most people today) to A.
This is not quite the way I learned the song. The first half is the same, but I have heard the chorus done much more slowly — eight measures instead of four. The notes are the same, but the timing is different. I thought about transcribing that version, but since we don’t know what Dean sang, it’s perhaps best to go with Foster’s original.
The Minnesota Heritage Songbook 
i love it
It is a beautiful song of Americana! I never tire of hearing it and sharing it with others.
I loved Stephen Fosters work. His songs just fill my soul. I have been singing them for over 60 years thanks to a sweet music teacher who introduced me to them when I was in 4 th grade. I
Love old black joe have been singing it all
Morning.
Beautiful last Foster song of Americana!
Considering having it sung at my funeral
I am 60 now and remember singing poor old joe at school when i was 10 and it used to make me cry because the music and words were sad i cannot remember the words black joe being there though its stayed with me for 50 plus years dont no if it is classed as racist now i have never heard it since school i like some other of his songs. 3rd feb 2021
I have come across an old text book for learning music from our old country school likely 1920s or so. Couldn’t remember the music so played it .set in b flat. Very beautiful lyrics also. Stuck in my head now . Should I sing this aloud. Shall substitute for the words black and cotton . A feared to be called a horrible name .
As a Black American, I was astonished to find this song sung by Paul Robeson, and I don’t think I like the content at all. I don’t know how Robeson sang it, knowing his character. Nevertheless, I do know it was an extremely popular song in the 2nd half of the 19th century, and would have been an old standard at least 50 years old by the time Robeson recorded it in his 20s. The words seem hauntingly vile. Nevertheless, I am 47, and had never heard the song as “Old Black Joe”. I am, however, very familiar with the tune as a hymn of the Church. I have only heard it as a soul stirrer called “I Love Him”. Apparently, a Christian lyricist named Daniel B. Towner, added the new words, and the song became a classic again. It’s 2024, and this song is sung in the predominately black churches I have attended all my life, and it is a revered staple.
Gone from my heart the world and all its charms;
Now through the blood I’m saved from all alarms;
Down at the cross my heart is bending low;
The precious blood of Jesus cleanses white as snow.
I love Him, I love Him,
Because He first loved me,
And purchased my salvation on Calv’ry’s tree.
I’m glad to hear that the tune has found a use that can keep it alive. Paul Robeson… obviously sang songs that we would not expect a Black activist to sing today. I wonder if he changed the words a little, as he changed the words of “Old Man River.”
Personally, although this is clearly a bit of cultural appropriation — Foster writing as if he were a slave — it strikes me that this is much less vile than a lot of his pieces. No dialect, e.g. Foster clearly sympathizes with Joe. Is that enough justification for the song? Coming at it from the outside, I probably am not justified in trying to say. Perhaps it tells us something about the era that one of Foster’s LESS racist songs is still patently a song of a racist world.
The lyrics you provided are beautiful. When I first saw the original Foster lyrics I thought the words were a mimic of the brogue of the day of an older man who was never afforded the decency of an education but who could love in spite of such abuse. I am a white person in Canada. I accept your interpretation as a fellow Christian. I have a keyboard in my home and I do enjoy playing old songs and hymns. The love of our dear saviour ensures the best approach. I am printing your words. I think I will take said to my church. Sincerely Douglas Baldwin
Above you say, “There is no direct reference to slavery, either; if Joe weren’t Black, he might be anyone.” Except that, old BLACK Joe IS black!!! How stupid can you be? You should have written: “If this RACIST song wasn’t RACIST it might have been any song.” or “If this Nazi-German song hadn’t been Nazi-German, it could have just been any song!” Anyone, who claims songs by Foster are not racist is just a racist apologist.
I didn’t say Joe wasn’t Black. Not all Blacks, even in the South, were slaves (though many Southern states, in the period leading up to the Civil War, were expelling their free Blacks). But Joe, we note, does not use southern dialect, or even a southern accent, unlike Foster’s other songs.
It is certainly true that Foster’s other songs show no consciousness of the evils of slavery. I have no reason to think he changed, but I would prefer to hope that he could learn rather than never forgive anyone for anything. “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Incidentally, it is well-established that you do not convince people of something by calling them stupid.