I met a little girl from Knoxville down beyond the well And every Sunday evenin' inside her home I dwelled We went to take an evenin' stroll 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 knees for mercy she did cry "Oh Willard 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 it her blood did flow
I grabbed her by her golden curls and drug her round and round Throwing her into the river that runs through Knoxville town Go there go there you Knoxville girl with dark and rollin' eyes Go there go there you Knoxville girl you can never be my bride
I rolled and tumbled the whole night through, my dreams were livin' Hell And then they came from Knoxville to carry me to jail I'm here to waste my life away down in this dirty old cell Because I killed that Knoxville girl, that girl I loved so well!
