Lewis, Jerry Lee - Old Black Joe Lyrics






Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay
Gone are the toils of the cotton fields away
Gone to the fields of a better land I know
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe"

I'm coming, I'm coming
For my head is bending low
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe"

I'm coming home (I'm coming home)
I'm coming home (I'm coming home)
Oh-oh my head is bending low
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe"
Old Black Joe, Old Black Joe, 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 voice calling, "Old Black Joe"

Where are the hearts once so happy and free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has long'd to go
I hear their gentle voice calling, "Old Black Joe"





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Lewis, Jerry Lee Old Black Joe Comments
  1. K.... H....

    NO WORDS. LOVE HIM. THE KILLER

  2. w.... ....

    Superb classic!

  3. �.... �....

    Crazy cavan's version is better and cooler

  4. R.... W....

    Stephen Foster is the most under appreciated music composer in recorded history.

  5. S.... G....

    kool.....

  6. J.... D....

    Wow, I used to sing this song at age 9 in 1950, to soothe the slings and arrows of the fourth grade in Roxbury Kansas. It was a blues song for a kid that didn't get to hear black music on the radio.

  7. M.... b....

    The killer!

  8. C.... ....

    Not cool. Only prove that just because you _can_ perform any song as a boogie-woogie doesn't mean you should.

  9. J.... L....

    Love it ❤️

  10. G.... S....

    Like it Crazy Cavan did it better tho

  11. B.... B....

    c'est toujours aussi génial j'aime trop c'est fantastique j'adore

  12. E.... P....

    EddieParker 👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏

  13. h.... d....

    VERY NICE

  14. 2.... ....

    AWESOME!!! Wonderful words to music. Story

  15. n.... k....

    Master piece

  16. P.... O....

    Best ever version.

  17. n.... k....

    He is the magician of music

  18. j.... s....

    The killer.....

  19. C.... P....

    I have heard many versions of this song, but his short version in its penetrating clarity of message by Jerry Lee Lewis has ever brought tears to my eyes.

  20. A.... M....

    What a poet of singing and piano playing

  21. C.... W....

    do it again, Killer!!!!

  22. M.... �....

    Hahaha, Young and gay xD

  23. M.... B....

    In the movie Barton Fink the old drunk film script writer is singing 'Old Black Joe' while he stumbles down his oath away from Barton Fink.

  24. H.... ....

    For the record, "Old Black Joe" is a song by Stephen Foster (1853) so it's now more than 150 years old and still sung, though of course less so due to its lyrics. They're properly called Plantation Melodies.

    Other great Plantation melodies by Foster include "Old Folks at Home," "My Old Kentucky Home," "O Susanna," "Ring De Banjo," and many others. Unfortunately due to their lyrics, even when they're "cleaned up" they offend many. Pity because Foster was the first real American composer.

    Foster wrote in two styles: the Plantation melodies and the Parlor Melodies, without Afro-American dialect, including "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair," "Gentle Annie" and too many to mention. Probably the most famous of all is "Beautiful Dreamer," possibly his last song before he died of alcoholism , impecunious and alone at 37. Today he would be a multi-millionaire.

    Foster was the first American composer to blend black and white idioms, thus inventing modern American music. For some reason the Foster influence was eclipsed for half a century while sentimental songs dominated the music industry, until Tin Pan Alley composers like Kern and Berlin and Gershwin and Arlen brought syncopated music back into American music, which now dominates almost all popular music. Foster deserves his place in American musical history .

    H.... ....

    Haggis thanx alot.ever since I was a kid I have been interested in foster .love his songs

    H.... ....

    And what do "Old Black Joe", "Old Folks at Home" (aka "Swanee River") and "My Old Kentucky Home" (aka "Weep no more, my lady") have in common apart from being written by Foster? They are all referred to in the Schwarz/Lewis/Young song "Rockabye your baby with a Dixie Melody", famously sung by Al Jolson, in which the singer entreats his Mammy to sing these songs. I heard a more recent version where the lyrics had been altered to remove the reference to "Old Black Joe". It went "Little Joe, just as though I had you on my knee", which destroyed the meaning of the song completely!

  25. A.... J....

    I like a million times better the version by Collins and Harlan with banjo by Vess L ossman recorded 10/31-1902

  26. J.... D....

    Elvis sings "Old Black Joe" as accompaniment singer. I hear it.

    J.... D....

    You can?

    J.... D....

    Sure 'bout that?

  27. B.... M....

    👎🏼👎🏼

  28. J.... B....

    Play....it...go...go...go....!!!

  29. J.... B....

    Pkay it again Jerry!!!

  30. T.... ....

    One of the greats,Still rolling Jerry a true original.

  31. M.... ....

    Only Jerry Lee can take what possibly is the Saddest Song Ever Written and make you Sing along and SMILE!!!!!!!!   Even Stephen Foster would Smile to Hear this version.  Thanks for Posting,  Great Sound.

  32. f.... ....

    Gee, Diana Burnwood, what a burden you carry. Amazing how folks like you soldier on.

  33. c.... ....

    I once heard someone refer to it as  Oh" that Joe.

  34. e.... p....

    My Favorite Jerry Lee SUN Classic

  35. D.... B....

    I always loved his piano, make me smile every time I hear him play.

  36. w.... ....

    Superb classic!

  37. J.... V....

    Great version

  38. H.... A....

    One of Jerry Lee's best with that early Sun sound.  He takes you on a soulfull country gospel adventure.

    H.... A....

    No, this isn't the famous "Sun Sound". Sam Phillips had moved out of the 706 Union studios into the new one on Madison. Sun never produced a big hit out of the later studio, although they did overdub chorus on "Lonely Weekends" by Charlie Rich at the new studio. It's the only song they actually helped with that call and response, similar to Roy Hamiltons' "Don't Let Go". Nevertheless, Charlie recorded the song at the old studios. It's the dreaded awful Gene Lowery singles singing background on this, although they've mercifully lowered them in the mix for this re-issue of the song. They're much louder on the 45. They more or less ruined the entire catalog of later SUN records, because Jack Clement came up with this concept of using this awful chorus for "Ballad a Teenage Queen" by Johnny Cash, which turned out to be a very big pop hit. After that, Sam or Jack put them on most of theJohnny Cash releases, which is one reason that Cash left the label. I think Sam was busier with his interests in the "Holiday Inn" motel chain and his radio stations, so he let Jack run the studio.

    H.... A....

    Ghost Train Actually I think that Jerry Lee cut “What’d I Say” at the first studio session at the new Madison Avenue studio in 1960. Of course, he would reenter the top 30 on the billboard the next year with it. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs scored heavily in 1965 after cutting “Wooly Bully” at the Madison Avenue studios too.

  39. H.... A....

    Jerry Lee rocks this great old gospel tune.  No one has done it better than Jerry Lee.

  40. L.... L....

    Jerry is the the king. The only one!!!!!

  41. T.... R....

    Great one! What a great piano player!

  42. P.... W....

    Excellent song.

  43. I.... B....

    I had this 45 a long time ago . Never hear it played any more but it's one of his great ones.

  44. R.... Z....

    On chantait cette chanson aux camps scout; accompagnement a la gui tard bien sûr .
    E Français c’était ho ! vieux D'jo .

  45. c.... a....

    One of his best

  46. G.... ....

    This performance of Jerry Lee renders a personal flavoured picture to anyone born in the "Old South". Stripped of its moral and political background it remains a beautiful song, performed with feeling by the Killer himself!

  47. R.... B....

    Great as ever.

  48. n.... ....

    The KILLER
    Norway

  49. m.... ....

    Love it!!!!!

  50. R.... L....

    Een van mijn meest geliefde songs van Jerry,Grandioos

  51. W.... S....

    Dançar,dançar,sacudir os ossos!Hey,"billy",Rock'a'billy"!!!!

  52. C.... J....

    Schitterend

  53. 1.... ....

    awe-inspiring. It gives me chills.

  54. W.... W....

    I LOVE The Killer!!!

  55. R.... J....

    amazing song!! no one can play this like the killer. saw him perform last year in amsterdam. his sister kicked it off pretty good with this one. i uploaded the video for the ones that want to see it. linda gail lewis - old black joe.
    thanks for uploading this song!

  56. e.... p....

    SUN 337 a super Un played release by Jerry he put his heart into this tune, listen to that piano talk.