Old Black Joe
Various Artists Lyrics


We have lyrics for 'Old Black Joe' by these artists:


A.M. Matrosenchor You wasn't fucking with the old me, old me, old…
Al Jolson Gone are the days When my heart was young and gay Gone…
Bob Chester And His Orchestra That old black magic has me in its spell That old…
Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers Gone are the days when my heart was young and…
Dr. William Truly Jr I put on my clothes like a body guard I put…
Dr. William Truly\ Jr. That old black magic has me in its spell That…
Elvis & Jerry Lee Gone are the days when my heart was young and…
Gene Krupa & His Orchestra That old black magic has me in its spell That old…
Glenn Miller That old black magic has me in its spell, That old…
Jennifer Ivester Old Black Joe Gone are the days when my Heart was young…
Jerry Lee Lewis Gone are the days when my heart was young and…
Linda Gail Lewis Gone are the days When my heart was young and gay Gone…
Stan Kenton & His Orchestra Old black magic has me in its spell Old black magic…
The Glenn Miller Orchestra That old black magic has me in its spell, That old…
The Kelly Family Gone are the days when my heart was young and…
Tommy Dorsey Old black magic has me in its spell Old black magic…



Van Morrison Gone are the days When my heart was young and gay Gone…


The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Song not found
Most interesting comment from YouTube:

tony13985

Very moving song. The lyrics has crossed boundaries of all languages...
ๅฟซไน็ซฅๅนด ๅฆ‚ไปŠไธ€ๅŽปไธๅค่ฟ”
ไบฒ็ˆฑๆœ‹ๅ‹ ้ƒฝๅทฒ็ฆปๅผ€ๅฎถๅ›ญ
็ฆปๅผ€ๅฐ˜ไธ– ๅˆฐ้‚ฃๅคฉไธŠ็š„ไนๅ›ญ
ๆˆ‘ๅฌ่งไป–ไปฌ่ฝปๅฃฐๆŠŠๆˆ‘ๅ‘ผๅ”ค

ไธบไฝ•ๅ“ญๆณฃ ๅฆ‚ไปŠๆˆ‘ไธๅบ”ๅฟงไผค
ไธบไฝ•ๅนๆฏ ๆœ‹ๅ‹ไธ่ƒฝ้‡็›ธ่š
ไธบไฝ•ๆ‚ฒ็—› ไบฒไบบๅŽปไธ–ๅทฒๅคšๅนด
ๆˆ‘ๅฌ่งไป–ไปฌ่ฝปๅฃฐๆŠŠๆˆ‘ๅ‘ผๅ”ค

ๅนธ็ฆไผดไพฃ ๅฆ‚ไปŠๅ„ๆ•ฃไธœ่ฅฟ
ๆ€€ไธญ็ˆฑๅ„ฟ ๆ—ฉๅทฒ็ฆปๆˆ‘่ฟœๅŽป
ไป–ไปฌๅทฒๅˆฐ ๆˆ‘ๆ‰€ๆธดๆœ›็š„ไนๅ›ญ
ๆˆ‘ๅฌ่งไป–ไปฌ่ฝปๅฃฐๆŠŠๆˆ‘ๅ‘ผๅ”ค

ๆˆ‘ๆฅไบ† ๆˆ‘ๆฅไบ†
ๆˆ‘ๅทฒๅนด่€่ƒŒๅˆๅผฏ
ๆˆ‘ๅฌ่งไป–ไปฌ่ฝปๅฃฐๆŠŠๆˆ‘ๅ‘ผๅ”ค



All comments from YouTube:

Ana C.

The song is sung from the perspective of an old black slave named Joe. He's nearing death. He's sad because all of his fellow slaves, those he was children with, those he spent time with in the cotton fields, even those younger slave children who he held on his knee--all are dead and gone.

It's a sentimental song about slavery, written by a white northerner and designed to make white people forget about the true pain of slavery--the cruelty of overseers and compelled labor, the pain engendered when slave traders broke up families, the slaves who died because they were over-worked, under-fed, sexually exploited, and cruelly beaten. That wasn't ALL of slavery, but it was a significant element of how antebellum slavery worked in the U.S. South, and it were those elements that were heightned, of course, in antebellum anti-slavery literature, especially the narratives written by Frederick Douglass, Henry "Box" Brown, and others.

This song wants us to forget all that. It wants us, amazingly, to think that slavery for old black Joe was a matter of feeling "young and gay" in the cotton fields, and fraternizing with friends there. Notice that although the song mentions cotton fields, it says absolutely nothing about work. Slavery was, at bottom, a form of forcibly organized labor in which white people owned black people's bodies (as chattel: moveable property) and had the legal right to extract labor from those bodies, all in the service of producing cotton, tobacco, and other cash crops and making a profit from that enterprise.

The song wants us to forget all that. Yet it also wants us to dwell, sentimentally, in the pain of a particular slave. It's asking us to feel for him, intensely. But it's not asking us to feel for his true plight--the stuff about labor, mistreatment, and broken-up families I've outlined above. Instead, it's misdirecting our attention and asking us to feel for him purely on a human level: he's a terribly lonely old man whose friends are gone, and he longs to join them.

Charles Szabo

Thanks!

Nati Aron

I remember hearing this song when I was very young and feeling for the plight of the protagonist. I honestly think this wave of literary criticism of "x work of art is bad, because it doesn't do y" is an incredible disservice, first and foremost to our hearts.

Edit: also, just found this - an ex-slave remembering how they used to sing "Old black Joe" in the fields:
https://youtu.be/ZPjQFJ_cA1E

Sunflower

I definitely agree with most of your exposition. However, several things are often left out of the slavery narrative: There were black slave owners, and there were white slaves. Furthermore, many black countries still practice slavery.

Charles Szabo

Thanks

mingoo007

I think your synopsis is superb. Evaluating these songs, in the context of the time, rather then hiding them, is the best thing to do.

7 More Replies...

Alahna Wigfall

Here from โ€œThemโ€

_เฆจเฆพเฆฎเฆนเง€เฆจ

Traumatic

coocru

@t That's not a lady. She's not fit to be a human. Much so a "lady". I quit watching after that episode.

Em Em

@Mphasis X all the times๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜†

More Comments

More Versions