KNOXVILLE GIRL
     Based on the old English Ballad of the Wexford Girl.

     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
     A bout a mile from town
     I picked a stick up off the ground
     And knocked that fair girl 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
     With her red blood did flow

     I took her by her golden curls
     And I drug her 'round and 'round
     I threw her in 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'll 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