I met a little girl in Knoxville
A town we all know well
And every Sunday evening
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 beat that fair girl down

She fell down on her bended knee, for mercy she did cry
Oh Willy 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 us, with all her blood did pour

I took her by her golden curls and I drug her round and round
Throwing her into the river that flows through Knoxville town
Go down, go down you Knoxville girl with dark and rolling eye
Go down, go down you Knoxville girl, you can never be my bride

I headed back to Knoxville, got there about midnight
My mother she was worried and woke up in a fright
Saying, "dear son what have you done to bloody your clothes so?"
I told my anxious mother I was bleeding out my nose

I called for me a candle to light myself 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