Stephen Foster wrote this song in 1864, just a year before his death from a fall precipitated by his alcoholism. He was living in New York City and struggling financially, while his wife and daughter lived estranged from him in Pittsburgh. But for all of his problems, Foster could still produce songs of great distinction, as evidenced by Old Black Joe. While it may have been viewed as racially condescending at one time, it ironically has grown more politically correct over the years, as black long ago supplanted Negro, and as it was likely Foster had an abolitionist movement. The tune is well known, beginning with four rising notes to the words "Gone are the days." It is lively but unhurried, the mood of the music ambivalent, mixing the glorious with the nostalgic, the sunny with the melancholy. Black Joe comes across as a gentle, sad soul as he ponders dying and going "to a better land...." The jaunty music to the refrain imparts a playful manner, but does not break from the sweet melancholy of the main material. Whether in the piano or orchestral version, this song is a masterful creation by a tragic composer who may have seen himself in Old Black Joe.

© All Music Guide