Notchville Girl- Betty Lou Copeland (AR) 1969 Hunter G
[From Missouri State; Max Hunter Folk Song Collection; Cat. #0767 (MFH #670). Minor editing.
This is a cover of the Wilburn Brothers (Knoxville Girl) and is not traditional- she does sing Notchville amusingly instead of Knoxville.
Listen: https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0767
R. Matteson 2016]
Notchville Girl - As sung by Betty Lou Copeland, Mountain View, Arkansas on May 26, 1969
VERSE 1
I met a little girl in Notchville
The town we all knew well,
And every Sunday evening
Out in her home I'd dwell.
We went to take a evenin' walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground
And I knocked that fair girl down.
VERSE 2
She fell down on her bended knees
For mercy she did cry,
O Willie dear, don't kill me here
I not prepared to die
She never spoke another word
I only beat her more
Until the ground around her,
Within her blood did flow.
VERSE 3
I took her by her golden curls
I flung her 'round an' 'round
I threw her in the river
That flowed to Notchville town
Go there, go there, you Notchville girl
You can never be my my bride
Go there, go there, you Notchville girl
You can never be my wife.
VERSE 4
I rolled an' tumbled the whole night through
My dreams were living in hell
Until they came from Notchville
To carry me off to jail.
I'm here to waste my life away
An' time is passing slow
Because I've killed that Notchville girl
The girl that I loved so.