Capo 9th fret 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