I Shot The Sheriff
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh)
Yeah! All around in my home town,
They’re tryin’ to track me down;
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy
For the life of a deputy
But I say:
Oh, now, now. Oh!
(I shot the sheriff.) – the sheriff
(But I swear it was in self defense)
Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff – Oh, Lord!
(And they say it is a capital offense)
Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
For what, I don’t know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grow –
He said kill them before they grow.
And so:
Read it in the news:
(I shot the sheriff.) Oh, Lord!
(But I swear it was in self-defense)
Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)
I say: I shot the sheriff
But I swear it was in self defense (Oo-oh) Yeah!
Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down
So I shot – I shot – I shot him down and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay
(I shot the sheriff,)
But I say (But I didn’t shoot no deputy)
I didn’t shoot no deputy (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I shot the sheriff.) I did!
But I didn’t shoot no deputy. Oh! (Oo-oo-ooh)
Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be:
Every day the bucket a-go a well
One day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom a-go drop out
I say:
I – I – I – I shot the sheriff
Lord, I didn’t shot the deputy. Yeah!
I – I (shot the sheriff)
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, yeah! No, yeah!