Knoxville Girl

I [D] met a little  girl in [D] Knox- ville
A [G] town we all know [D] well
And every  Sunday [D] eve- ning
Out [E] in her home I'd [A7] dwell
We [D] went to  take an [D] evening  walk
[A] [G] bout [A] mile from [D] town
I picked a  stick up [D] off the  ground
And [A7] knocked that fair girl [D] down;

She fell down on her bended knees
For mercy she did cry
Oh, Willie 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
Within her blood did flow;

I took her by her golden curls
And I 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 handkerchief
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.

Note. Based on the old English Ballad of the Wexford Girl.

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