Knoxville Girl

Here's another "murdered girl" song, with definitely the most gruesome description yet. I find the chord progression here really sweet, and it's the song for which I first learned to play the boom-chuk-chuk of waltz time. The version I learned is from the Louvin Brothers, although the song comes from England originally.

I met a little girl in Knoxville

| D | D | D | D |

A town we all know well

| G | G | D | D |

And every Sunday evening

| D | D | D | D |

Out in her home I'd dwell

| E | E | A7 | A7 |

We went out for an evening walk

| D | D | D | D |

About a mile from town

| G | G | D | D |

I picked a stick up off the ground

| D | D | D | D |

And knocked that fair girl down

| A7 | A7 | D | D |

She fell down on her bended knee

For mercy she did cry

Oh, Willie dear, don't kill me here

I'm unprepared to die

She never spoke another word

I only beat her more

Until the ground around me

With her blood did flow

I grabbed her by her golden curls

And I drug her around and around

Threw her into the river

That flows through Knoxville town

Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl

With the dark and roving eye

Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl

You can never be my bride

I started back to Knoxville

Got there about midnight

My mother she was worried

And woke up in a fright

Dear son, dear son, what have you done

To bloody your shirt so?

I told my anxious mother

I was bleeding at my nose

I called for me a candle

To light my way to bed

I called for me a handkerchief

To bind my aching head.

Rolled and tumbled the whole night through

As troubles was for me

Like flames of hell around my bed

And in my eyes could see

They carried me down to Knoxville

And put me in a cell

My friends all tried to get me out

But none could go my bail

I'm here to waste my life away

Down in this dirty old jail

Because I murdered that Knoxville girl

The girl I loved so well