(Verse 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 their gentle voices calling "Old Black Joe."

(Verse 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)
I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low
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."

(Chorus)
I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low
I hear their gentle voices calling "Old Black Joe."