Bob Marley & The Wailers - 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!

• Artist:Bob Marley & The Wailers
• Album:nin' (1973)