In the beautiful hills in the midst of Roane Country
It's there that I labored my whole life away
It’s there that my heart is a-turnin' most ever
It's there the first steps of misfortune I made

I’s about thirty years when I courted and married
Miss Armanda Gilbert to be my fair wife
For some unknown reason, her brother Tom stabbed me
And not two months later, I'd taken Tom's life

I's captured and tried in a village of Kingsport
Not a soul in that village could say a kind word
When a jury come in with the verdict next mornin'
"A lifetime in prison," are the words that I heard

Well my mama come down to see me at the station
My sweet sister Donna stood there by her side
They turned for to go, but I was chained to the platform
They said, "Willie, God bless you, God bless you, goodbye"

In the scorching hot sands of a foundry, I'm toiling
Just a-toilin' and sweatin' my poor life away
When I die, bury me on the banks of old Cumberland
In the beautiful green hills of east Tennessee

In the beautiful hills in the midst of Roane Country
It’s there that I’ve labored my whole life away
It's there that my heart is a-turnin’ most ever
It's there the first steps of misfortune I made