Old black Joe (Stephen Collins Foster)

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• (Posted 2010-04-18)  CPDL #21465:          (Sibelius 4)

Editor: Ashley Etzkorn (submitted 2010-04-18).   Score information: 18.7 x 26.4 cm, 1 page, 114 kB   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Old Black Joe
Composer: Stephen Collins Foster

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: Optional piano

First published: 1917
Description: This song is similar to others composed by Stephen C. Foster. It has always been a favorite with men and boys. Considerable freedom is allowed in the tempo of the chorus. The use of an echo choir in the singing of the chorus can produce a lovely effect.

Original text and translations

English text

1.
Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay;
Gone are my friends from the cottonfields away;
Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe!"

R.:
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!"

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!"