Hong Kong had long been a British colony. Western cultural influences started early and seeped into people’s daily life as early as the 1920s.
Cultural influences from the West took an upward turn in the 1950s, firstly through films. During the time when Wong Jum-sum grew up, the number of Western films on show every year was never less than 200. The West was also prominent in radio broadcast. Thanks to the work of progressive radio show hosts like Aileen Woods and Uncle Ray, a whole generation came to be exposed to all styles and genres of Western pop music. They helped to nurture a world where one could embrace simultaneously the diverse sound and sentiments of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Benny Goodman. A new collective outlook was thus embodied in the skin and bone of the baby boomer generation.
Composer: Stephen Foster
Lyricist: Stephen Foster
Vocalist: Paul Robeson
Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away
Gone from the earth to a better land I know
I hear their gentle voices calling "Old Black Joe"
I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe"
Why do I weep when my heart should feel no pain
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again
Grieving for forms now departed long ago
I hear their gentle voices calling “Old Black Joe”
I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe"
