Bob Marley & the Wailers Songs - I Shot the Sheriff Lyrics

Bob Marley & the Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff

Bob Marley & the Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Burnin'
Released: 1973

I Shot the Sheriff Lyrics

(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, 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, ooh)
Yeah, I say, I shot the sheriff oh, Lord! (And they say it is a capital offense)
Yeah! (oh, oh, ooh) 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, oh, ooh)
I say, I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in self defense, yeah! (Ooh)

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

Writer/s: ROBERT MARLEY
Publisher: BLUE MOUNTAIN MUSIC LTD.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Shot the Sheriff Song Chart

This song tells the story of a man who shoots a sheriff who is harassing him, but is wrongly accused of killing the deputy. Marley said that some of the song is true, but would not say what parts.

This was the last single Marley released with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, who left to go solo.

Eric Clapton recorded this in 1974. His version was a #1 hit in the US, the only #1 of his career. Clapton's recording gave Marley a big boost, as it exposed him to a rock audience.

On the 2001 documentary The Life Of Bob Marley, Esther Anderson, who was Marley's girlfriend, claims she helped write this and that it is about birth control.

The sheriff's name in the song is John Brown. In 1963, Bob Dylan wrote a song called "John Brown" about a boy who goes to war and comes back badly wounded.

Bruce Springsteen used the name "John Brown" as the name of a judge in his 1981 song "Johnny 99."

Marley later wrote a song called "Mr. Brown," which was probably about the same character. (thanks, Brad Nash - Rochester Hills, MI)