In a little Knoxville town I used to live and dwell.

voiceColl. by Mary Jo Davis For M. C. Parler Sung by Marie Washam and J. R. Crymes DeValls Bluff, Arkansas June 13, 1954 Reel 191 Item 5 The Knoxville Girl In a little Knoxville town I used to live and dwell. And in that little Knoxville town I owned a flour mill, I fell in love with a Knoxville girl with dark and rolling eyes, She promised me she'd marry me, if her I'd never deny. I called her at her sister's house at six o'clock one day, I asked her take a walk with me, and name our wedding day, We walked along, we talked along, 'til we came to level ground, Then I picked up hedgewood stick and I knocked that fair girl down, She fell upon her bending knees, 0 Lord have mercy, she cried, Oh Willie, my dear, don't murdur me here, for I'm not prepared to die. Never, never a word I said, I beat her more and more, I beat her 'til the ground around stood in a bloody gore, I took her by her yellow hair, and I swung her round and 'round, I threw her in the still water deep, that flows through Knoxville town. Along about six, they found her, the Knoxville girl was found, Floating down the still water deep, that flows through Knoxville town, Her sister swore my life away, she swore without a doubt, She swore I was the very lad, that laid her sister out. So 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.Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation