Knoxville Girl- Tab Ward (NC) 1966 Burton II
[From Burton and Manning; Folksongs II, 1969, not traditional. With minor changes from the Blue Sky Boy's 1937 recording, Story of The Knoxville Girl.
R. Matteson 2016]
THE KNOXVILLE GIRL-- Recorded by Tab Ward of Beech Mountain, NC in 1966.
I met a little girl in Knoxville
A town you all know well;
And ever' Sunday evening
Into her home I'd dwell.
I took her for an evening walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up offen the ground
And knocked that fair girl down.
She fell down upon her bended knees
"Oh mercy," she did cry
"Oh, Willie dear, don't kill me here
I'm not prepared to die."
She didn't spoke another word
I even beat her more
Until the ground around us stood
And then her blood did pour.
I took her by her golden curls
And I throwed her 'round and 'round
I throwed her into the river
That flows through Knoxville town.
Go there, go there, you Knoxville girl
This dark and lonely night
Go there, go there, little Knoxville girl
You can never be my wife.
I started back to Knoxville
Got there about midnight
My mother she was worried
And woke up in a fright.
"Son, oh son, what have you done
That bloodied your clothes so?"
I told my anxious mother
I was bleedin' at my nose."
I called for me a candle
To light myself to bed
I called for me a handkerchief
To bind my aching head.
I rolled and tumbled the whole night through
And troubles [was] there for me[1]
The flames of hell around my bed
Before my eyes could see.
They took me down to Knoxville
They locked me in a cell
My friends all tried to get me out
But none could go my bail.
And here I'm worrying my life away
In this dirty old jail
Because I murdered that Knoxville girl
The girl I loved so well.