Capo 3rd fret
I met a little girl in Knoxville
A town we all know well
And every Sunday evening
Out in her home I'd dwell
We went to take an evening walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground
And knocked that fair girl down
She fell down on her bended knee
For mercy she did cry
"Oh Willy dear, don't kill me here,
I'm unprepared to die."
She never spoke another word,
I only beat her more.
Until the ground around me,
With all her blood did pour.
I took her by her golden curls
And drug her round and round,
Throwing her into the river
That flows through Knoxville town
Go down, go down you Knoxville girl
With the dark and roving eyes
Go down, go down you Knoxville girl,
You can never be my bride
I started back to Knoxville,
Got there about midnight.
My mother she was worried
And woke up in a fright.
Saying, "dear son what have you done
To bloody your clothes so?"
I told my anxious mother
I was bleeding at my nose
I called for me a candle
To light myself to bed
I called for me a hankercheif
To bind my aching head
Rolled and tumbled the whole night through
As troubles was for me
Like flames of Hell around my bed
And in my eyes could see
They carried me down to Knoxville
And put me in a cell
My friends all tried to get me out
But none could go my bail
I'm here to waste my life away
Down in this dirty old jail.
Because I murdered that Knoxville girl,
The girl I loved so... Well...