Joshua

[E]Joshua was an old man

his beard like mountain snow
and when [A]I was a boy we'd have jam ses[E]sions
I'd sneak off to old Sharptop
with my guitar I would go
when I [A]should have been at school
learnin' my [E]lessons
and he'd [B]sip a little moonshine
and I'd [A]smoke a corncob pipe
and we'd [B]pick all day until our fingers [A]bled
and [B]right around supper time
I'd [A]run home in the night
[B]just in time to get a whippin' from my [A]Dad  [E]

my friend joshua tells me
that picking wont pay the rent
well i set out to prove him wrong in time
I dont guess i can recall
all the hours that i spent
just beating on that old black top of mine
me and my friend joshua lord
we must have played them all
and i got to where i could put the old man to shame
i dont guess it ever seemed to bother josh at all
he still loved to pick 'em just the same

 oh way [E]back when   [A]
 he was [E]65 and I was 10     [A]
 and I will never b[E]e as free again  [A]
 oh way [E]back when   [A]            [E]

the summer flew by quickly
and Josh and I spent our time
writing words to songs from memories of his past
he'd tell me bout the way it was
and I'd find the perfect rhyme
and I couldn't believe how we wrote our songs so fast
I never knew an old man
could be so full of life
the love we had was so hard to explain
and I remember how the tears fell when he spoke of his late wife
and I'd give him my 6-string to ease his pain

 oh way back when
 he was 65 and I was 10
 and I will never be as free again
 oh way back when

Solo): [Am] [C] [G] [D] [Am] [C] [G] [D] [D]

and then in late November
I knocked on his cabin door
I knocked and knocked but Joshua never came
and I still remember
how he layed there on the floor
and I went home a-cryin' in the rain

 oh way back when
 he was 65 and I was 10
 and I will never be as free again
 oh way back when
 oh way back when
 oh way back when