Lyric discussion by Seraphimgirl 

Cover art for Knoxville Girl lyrics by Louvin Brothers, The

A gentleman and lady are in love, she has blonde hair. He feels pressured to marry her, so instead he kills her and then throws her in the river thinking he is rid of her, but he's not. His mother senses something is wrong because she sees the blood, but he lies to his mother. The killer makes no effort to excuse his own behavior, so he clearly feels remorse, and the tone is sorrowful. He knows that inside he truly loves her even after he killed her, and he knows she didn't deserve to be killed, she was innocent, she truly loved him. His heart, this love, her innocence, her death at his own hands haunts him after he kills her he feels the flames of hell around his bed, he can't sleep, her memory and his own guilt and love haunt him for the rest of his life. So now the killer views the rest of his existence as prison, or he is in real prison either way, but most likely I think it means like he is suffering at his own hand and is in a prison that he created himself that he can't seem to get out of and he feels like he had it coming because look what he did to the girl that he loved most, and the person who loved him the most purely. So he is hurting himself I think. That's my opinion of the song.

My Interpretation

@Seraphimgirl I have heard this song many years ago when I was a teen. I am now 52 and I have thought about this song. I feel I have the come to the correct meaning. Think about it. Motives for murder is love, money . This was a crime of passion. Typical human characteristic. he did not kill her because he was pressured, he was in love with her! She toyed with his heart. He found out she was seeing another man. He mulled it over all day knowing they had a date for a walk every...