E
Joshua was an old man

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

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

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


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

Instrumental Bridge (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