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

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


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

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

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

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


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


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

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