Knoxville Girl- P. Weddington (AR) 1968 Hunter D
[From Missouri State; Max Hunter Folk Song Collection; Cat. #0633 (MFH #670) . Minor editing. With guitar- standard waltz with II V I progression cadence. Also Ozark Folk Song Collection for Parler, 1954, complete recording.
Listen: https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0633
this si a cover song of Blue Sky Boys/Louvin Brothers version and is not traditional.
R. Matteson 2016]
Knoxville Girl- As sung by Paralee Weddington, Busch, Arkansas on March 7, 1968
VERSE 1
I met[1] a little girl in Knoxville
A town we all knew well
Every Sunday evening
At her home I'd dwell.
We went to take an evening walk
About a mile to town
I picked a stick up on the ground
I knocked that fair girl down.
VERSE 2
She fell upon her bended knees
For mercy she did cry
Willie dear, don't kill me here
I'm not prepared to die.
He never spoke another word
He only beat her more
Till the ground around her
Was in her blood did flow.
VERSE 3
He took her by the golden curls
An' he drug her round an' round
He threw her in the river
That flowed from Knoxville Town.
Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl
With dark an' rolling eyes
Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl
You never can be my bride.
VERSE 4
I started back to Knoxville
Got there about midnight
My mother she was worried
Woke up all in a fright.
Saying "Son, my Son, what have you done
To bloody your clothes so
The answer I gave Mother
Was bleeding at the nose.
VERSE 5
I called for me a candle
To light myself to bed
I called for me a handkerchief
To bind my aching head.
I rolled an' tumbled the whole night long
No rest was there for me,
The flames of hell around my bed
An' demons I could see.
VERSE 6
They carried me to the Knoxville jail[2],
They locked me in a cell,
My friends all tried to clear me
But none could go my bail,
I am here to waste my life away
Down in this dirty old jail,
Because I murdered that Knoxville girl,
The girl I loved so well.
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1. Parler version
2. The 1964 recording for Parler was complete. This is the end of the Hunter recording:
They carried him off to Knoxville
An' locked him in a cell
His friends all tried to save him
But none could pay his bill.
__ ___ ___ ___ __ life away[forgotten]
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