Knoxville Girl- Ralph E. Frazier (TN) 1966 Burton

Knoxville Girl- Ralph E. Frazier (TN) 1966 Burton

[From Burton and Manning I, 1967. Their notes follow.

R. Matteson 2016]


This ballad appears to be a variant of "The Lexington Murder."  It closely parallels several other murders of young ladies by drowning.

THE KNOXVILLE GIRL- Sung by Ralph E. Frazier, January 21, 1966. Collected by Sue Frazier.

1. In a little town in Knoxville
I used to live and dwell,
And in this little Knoxville town
I owned a flour mill.

I fell in love with a Knoxville girl
 with dark and rolling eyes.
I promised her that I'd marry her,
but I knew she'd never mine.

2. I called at her sister's house
About nine o'clock one night,
And this tittle Knoxville girl
was always in a fright[1].

I asked her to take a walk with me
down to yon meadows gay;
That we might have a social talk
and name our wedding day.

3. We walked along, we talked along,
 til we came to the level ground;
There I picked up a hedgewood stick
I knocked this poor girl down.

She fell down on her bended knees,
"Oh Lord have mercy,' she  cried.
"Oh Willi€e, my dear, don't you murder me here,
For I'm not prepared to die."

 
4. I beat her for every word she said,
I beat her more and more,
I beat her till the ground around
Stood in a bloody gore.

I took her by her yellow hair,
I drug her 'round and 'round.
I drug her to the still water deep
that flows through Knoxville town.

5. And just about six weeks later,
this Knoxville girl was found
A-floating down the still water deep
that flows through Knoxville town.

Her sister swore my life away,
she proved it to no doubt.
She proved that I was the very boy
that led her sister out.

6. And now they're going to hang me,
 a death I hate to die;
They're going to hang me up
so high between the earth and sky.