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! (Oh, oh, oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff oh, Lord!
(And they say it is a capital offense.)
Yeah! (oh, oh, 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? (oh)
I say, I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in self defense. (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! (oh)

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. No!
I, I (shot the sheriff)
But I didn't shoot no deputy, yeah! So, yeah!