I met little girl in Knoxville,
a town we all know well
And every Sunday evening
out in her home I dwell
Well, we went to take an evening walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground
And I knocked that fair girl down
She fell down on her bending knees
For mercy she did try
Sayin', 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,
I swung her round and round.
I threw her in the river
that flows to Knoxville town.
Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl,
with your dark and rolling 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 weary
and woke up in the fray
Saying, son, oh son,
what have you done
to bloody your poor soul?
I told my aching mother,
I've been bleeding at my nose
I call for me a candle
to light myself to bed
I call for me a handkerchief
to bind my aching head
I roll and tumble the whole night through
for troubles were for me
Like flames of hell around my bed
Within my eyes could see
They took me down to Nashville
And locked me in a cell
My friends all tried to get me out,
but none could roll my bell.
I'm here to waste my life away,
down in this dirty old jail.
Because I murdered that Knoxville girl,
a girl I love so well. you