I can see that some expressions need translation for someone whose first language is not English.
Some is just poetic excess, or an unusual way of expressing a simple idea.

Your examples (probably understood by you now)
Weakness woes- I feel weak. Read 'woes' as problems or troubles.
Murderers die..... even if we make a mistake..... Sometimes a man is wrongly convicted, and dies for a crime he did not commit.

Violets of Dawn- "the no colors" is too poetic for me (or just bad expression).
"Puppy warm"- the eyes? Makes no sense to me.
The composer calls it a nonsense song- and it is.

Dave Van Ronk (and others). See which fits best when the whole verse is considered. Moreover, sometimes an event or person is referred to cryptically that the composer thinks his audience knows about- If one doesn't know, the line causes confusion.