Joshua chords by Shawn Mullins

Chords with lyrics

This is how I play it - I'm pretty sure the song's capo 9, but it's a bit tight for me.
I play it Capo on 4th fret, this sounds pretty good to me. Pretty sure it's in E MajorE as well.


C majorC            C majorC
Joshua was an old man, his beard like mountain snow
     FF              C majorC
And when I was a boy we'd have jam sessions
C majorC               C majorC
I'd sneak off to old Sharptop, with my guitar I would go
    FF                    C majorC
When I should have been at school, learnin' my lessons

     G+G
And he'd sip a little moonshine
    FF
And I'd smoke a corncob pipe
     G+G               FF
And we'd pick all day until our fingers bled
  G+G
And right around supper time
  FF
I'd run home in the night
G+G                   FF  G+G
Just in time to get a whoppin' from my Dad

  C majorC              C majorC
My friend Joshua tells me that picking wont pay the rent
 FF                 C majorC
Well I set out to prove him wrong in time
C majorC             C majorC
I dont guess I can recall all the hours that I spent
    FF               C majorC
Just beating on that old flat top of mine
G+G
Me and my friend Joshua lord
FF
We must have played them all
G+G                       FF
And I got to where I could put the old man to shame
G+G                FF
I don't guess it ever seemed to bother Josh at all
G+G                  FF     G+G
We still loved to pick 'em just the same

 C majorC G+G     FF
 Oh, way back when
 C majorC    G+G      FF
 He was 65 and I was 10
   C majorC       G+G   FF
 And I will never be as free again
 C majorC G+G     FF
  Oh, way back when

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

 C majorC G+G     FF
 Oh, way back when
 C majorC    G+G      FF
 He was 65 and I was 10
   C majorC       G+G   FF
 And I will never be as free again
 C majorC G+G     FF
  Oh, way back when

Instrumental Bridge (Solo): D, F, C, G, D, F, C, G+G


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

 C majorC G+G     FF
 Oh, way back when
 C majorC    G+G      FF
 He was 65 and I was 10
   C majorC       G+G   FF
 And I will never be as free again
 C majorC G+G     FF
  Oh, way back when
 C majorC G+G     FF
  Oh, way back when
 C majorC G+G     FF
  Oh, way back when