I met a girl in Knoxville   a town we all know well,   and every Sunday evenin'   out in her home I'd dwell.      We went to take an evening walk   about a mile from town,   I picked a stick up off the ground,   and knocked that fair girl down.      She fell down on her bended knees   for mercy she did cry.   "Oh Willy dear don't kill me here,   I'm not prepared to die."      She never spoke another word   I only beat her more,   until the ground around me   within her blood did flow.      I took her by her golden curls   dragged her 'round and 'round.   Then threw her in the river   that flows through Knoxville town.      Go there, go there,   you Knoxville girl   with dark and rolling eyes.      Go there, go there,   you Knoxville girl   you'll never be my wife.      I rolled and turned the whole night through   my dreams were living hell.   And then they came from Knoxville   and carried me to jail.      I'm here to waste my life away   and time is passing slow.   Because i killed that Knoxville girl   the girl that i loved so.