"They'll be mighty proud in Dixie of their old black Joe," ca. 1918

From Harry Carroll. "They'll be mighty proud in Dixie of their old black Joe." New York: Shapiro, Bernstein and Co., 1918. Special Collections, Alderman Library, University of Virginia.

The other day I chanced to roam
Beside an old log cabin home.
I saw an aged darky dressed in khaki
'Bout to cross the foam.

I said, "Old man why must you go?
Your head of hair is white as snow."
He said, "I'm not obliged to, sonny,
But I want this world to know,

I'm a comin', I'm a comin',
And I'm mighty proud to go.
'Cause I seem to hear the bugles callin'
'Come on, old Black Joe.'

I've got the same old happy banjo,
And the same old trusty gun,
And they're the same old weapons that I used
In the days of sixty-one.

I'll swim a-cross that old Rhine river
And when I get there I won't have no rind (Rhine) I know
I'll give the whole world liberty
Just like Lincoln did for me.

Then they'll be dog-gone proud in Dixie
Of their Old Black Joe.