Lyr. Add: Hills of Roane County (2)
("First rendition"(?) from "The Killer Poet")

In the beautiful hills, in the midst of Roane County,
There's where I have roamed, for many long years;
There's where my poor heart's been tending most ever,
There's where my first steps of misfortune I made.

I was thirty years old when I courted and married,
Amanda Galbreath was then called my wife.
Her brother stabbed me for some unknown reason;
Just three months later, I'd taken Tom's life.

For twenty years this old world I rambled;
I went to old England, old France and old Spain,
I thought of my home way back in Roane County;
I boarded a steamer and came back again.

I was captured and tried in the village of Kingston.
Not a man in that county would speak a kind word.
When the jury came in with [missing words?]
a lifetime of prison were the words that I heard.

The train it pulled out; poor Mother stood weeping,
And sister, she sat all alone with a sigh.
The last words I heard were: "Willie, God bless you;
Willie, God bless you, God bless you; goodbye."

The train left the shed at about eleven thirty;
The chains they did rattle, the handcuffs were tight.
When Sonny Gibson took the throttle
The engine One-thirty was soon out of sight.

In the scorching hot sun I've been toiling;
Just working and worrying my poor life away.
You can measure my grave on the banks of old Cumberland
After I've finished the rest of my days.

No matter what happened to me in Roane County;
No matter how long my sentence may be,
I love my old home way back in Roane County,
Way back in the hills of East Tennessee.

http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/m&m/05.htm
The Killer Poet
Name spelled Willis Maberry in the article, "The Killer Poet." Spelled Mayberry in several versions of the song, and also by Kirkeminde in the Folklore Journal article.