Neha Patil (Editor)

The Knoxville Girl

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"The Knoxville Girl" is an Appalachian murder ballad.

Contents

Origins

It is derived from the 19th-century Irish ballad "The Wexford Girl", itself derived from the earlier English ballad "The Oxford Girl". Other versions are known as the "Waxweed Girl", "The Wexford Murder". These are in turn derived from Elizabethan era poem or broadside ballad, "The Cruel Miller".

Possibly modelled on the 17th century broadside William Grismond's Downfall, or A Lamentable Murther by him Committed at Lainterdine in the county of Hereford on March 12, 1650: Together with his lamentation., sometimes known as The Bloody Miller.

Lyrics

First lines:

I met a little girl in Knoxville,A town we all know well,And every Sunday evening,Out in her home I’d dwell.

Variants

Related or derived broadsides include:

  • "The Wexford Girl"
  • "Hanged I Shall Be" (Philip Henry's Diaries and Letters, 20 February 1684, ed. M. H. Lee, 1882, p. 323)
  • "Rose Connelley" (various spellings, also known as "Down in the Willow Garden").
  • "Knoxville Girl"
  • "William Grismond"

    • Samples

  • Plan B in the bootleg mash-up "Paint It Blacker" (2007) as a reference to violent music existing before modern rap.

    • Parodies

  • Patrick Sky on his album Songs That Made America Famous, as "Yonkers Girl".
  • GG Allin on his album Carnival of Excess, as "Watch Me Kill".

    • References

    The Knoxville Girl Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA