Long ago there lived a man who courted all the women
And they tell me Willie Duncan was his name.
He left a mighty long line of saddened ladies,
Cruel Willie was a devil, what a shame.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she was a handsome lady in the valley
And they say her hair was likened to the sun.
And her eyes were blue as all the heavens put together,
She was just about as pretty as they come.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy was ridin' in his wagon one morning
When he came along the darling Katie Lou.
He was so betaken by her special kind of beauty
He was barely heard to whisper howdy do.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she smiled and said, "Now I don't believe you know me
But you knew my little sister very well.
She was just a special kind of sweet little lady
Till you took her and you broke her all to hell."
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy smiled and then he said, "I don't believe you know me,
For I never hurt a woman in my life."
Then he leaned a little bit closer for to kiss her
And she stuck him in the belly with a knife.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Now the wind that flutters ever gentle through the valley
By the place where Willie's sleeping in the ground.
And the words that read upon the stone of Willie Duncan
Say that one too many women got him down.
And they tell me Willie Duncan was his name.
He left a mighty long line of saddened ladies,
Cruel Willie was a devil, what a shame.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she was a handsome lady in the valley
And they say her hair was likened to the sun.
And her eyes were blue as all the heavens put together,
She was just about as pretty as they come.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy was ridin' in his wagon one morning
When he came along the darling Katie Lou.
He was so betaken by her special kind of beauty
He was barely heard to whisper howdy do.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she smiled and said, "Now I don't believe you know me
But you knew my little sister very well.
She was just a special kind of sweet little lady
Till you took her and you broke her all to hell."
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy smiled and then he said, "I don't believe you know me,
For I never hurt a woman in my life."
Then he leaned a little bit closer for to kiss her
And she stuck him in the belly with a knife.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Now the wind that flutters ever gentle through the valley
By the place where Willie's sleeping in the ground.
And the words that read upon the stone of Willie Duncan
Say that one too many women got him down.
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