Joshua was an old man his beard like mountain snow
And when I was a boy we'd have jam sessions
I'd sneak off to old Sharptop with my guitar I would go
When I should've been in school learning my lessons
And he'd sip a little moonshine and I'd smoke a corncob pipe
We'd pick all day until our fingers bled
Right around supper time I'd run home in the night
Just in time to get a whoopin from my dad
My friend Josh would tell me pickin won't pay the rent
Well I set out to prove him wrong in time
And I don't guess I can recall all the hours that I spent
Just beatin on that old flat top of mine
Me and my friend Joshua Lord we must have played em all
And I got where I could put the old man to shame
But I don't guess it ever seemed to bother Josh at all
He still loved to pick em just the same

CHORUS
OH________Way back when
He was 65 I was 10
And I will never be as free______again
OH________Way back when

The summers flew by quickly as Josh and I spent our time
Writing words to songs from memories from his past
He'd tell me about the way it was and I'd find the perfect rhyme
And I couldn't believe how he wrote our songs so fast
And I never knew an old man 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 the pain

CHORUS

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

CHORUS

OH________Way back when
He was 65 I was 10
And I will never find a friend like him again
Oh___________________________Way back when
Oh___________________________Way back when