Analysis of Old Black Joe

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.'