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 selfdefence.) 

Oh, no!  

(Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah! 

I say: I shot the sheriff - Oh, Lord! - 

 

(And they say it is a capital offence.) 

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-defence.) 

Where was the deputy?  

(Oo-oo-oh) 

I say: I shot the sheriff, 

But I swear it was in selfdefence.  

(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!