I meet a little girl in Knoxville, a town we all know well
And every Sunday evening within her hole I'd dwell
I took her for an evening walk about a half a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground and knocked that fair girl down

She feel 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
Untill the ground around her wet, her blood did flow
I took her by her golden curls, I swung her 'round and 'round
A threw her in the river that runs through Knoxville Town
Go there, go there, you Knoxville girl, with your dark and roaming eye
Go there, go there, you Knoxville girl, you're never gonna be my bride

Well I started out walking home, got there about midnight
My mother, she was worried, she woke up in a fright
She said, "my son, what have you done to bloody your clothes?"
I told my anxious mother I'd been bleeding at my nose

They took me down to Knoxville, they locked me in a cell
I said my friends to get me out, but none would go my bail
So now I'm down in Knoxville, I am locked in this dirty old cell
But they can only kill me, I don't believe in hell