Knoxville Girl- Al Bittick (AZ) 1958 Parler B
[Ozark Folk Song Collection- online; Reel 360, Item 4. Collected by Parler and O'Bryant at Wild Cherry, Ark,
Listen:
http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/1755/rec/4
R. Matteson 2106]
The Knoxville Girl- Sung by Mr. Al Bittick of Winkelman, Arizona September 3, 1958.
'Twas down around in Knoxville Town,
Not many years ago,
I fell in love with a Knoxville girl,
Her cheeks were fair as snow.
I asked her would she walk with me
To view the land so bright,
We walked along, we talked along
Till we came to level ground,
There I picked up a piece of wood
And I knocked this fair girl down.
Down, down, upon her knees,
"Oh Willie," she did cry,
"Oh Willie, my dear, don't murder me here
For I'm not prepared to die."
I paid no heed to her pleading
But I beat her more and more,
Till all around upon the ground
Lie in a bloody gore.
I matted my hands in her long, black locks,
And I swung her round and round,
Then I tuck her down to the river
And threw her in to drown.
I walked along to my mother's house,
'Bout twelve o'clock that night,
My mother being worried,
She woke up in a terrible fright.
"My son, my son, what have you done
To bloody your hands and clothes?"
The only answer I give her,
Was "bleeding at the nose.
About two weeks or later
This Knoxville girl was found,
Floating down by the river
That runs through Knoxville Town.
Her parents swore my life away,
And all the people say
That I was the very young man
That had taken their sister away.
Oh Lord, they're going to hang me,
A death I hate to die,
Oh Lord, they're going to hang me
Beneath this earth and sky.