Knoxville Girl- Mrs. Jessie Monroe (WV) 1953
[From West Virginia Folklore - Volumes 4-9 - page 27, 1953.
R. Matteson 2016]
The Knoxville Girl- sung by Mrs. Jessie Monroe of Looneyville, West Virginia, 1953
1. O in the town of Knoxville
I used to live and dwell,
And in that little Knoxville town,
I owned a flour mill.
2. I fell in love with a Knoxville girl
With dark and rolling eyes
I promised that I'd marry her
If she'd me never deny.
3. I called at her sister's house
At nine o'clock one night;
I bid that little girl's fair name,
For I owned her in a spite.
4. I asked her if she'd walk with me
Out through the meadow gate[1],
That we might have a social talk
And name our wedding day.
5. We walked along, we walked along
Till we came to level ground
I picked up a hedgewood stick
And knocked the fair girl down.
6. She fell upon her bending knees,
"O Lord, have mercy on me I" she cried,
"O Willie, my dear, don't murder me here,
For I'm not prepared to die."
7. She never spoke another word;
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
And drug her round and round
threw her in the still waters deep
That flow through Knoxville town
9. And just about six weeks later,
That Knoxville girl was found,
Floating down the still waters deep
That flow through Knoxville town
10, Her sister swore my life away,
She swore without a doubt;
She swore that I was the very lad
That led her sister out.
11. And now they're going to hang me,
And, death[2], I hate to die;
They're going to hang me up so high
Beneath the earth and sky.
1. meadows "gay"
2. A death I hate to die