Chorus:
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.
1.
Yeah, all around in my hometown,
they’re tryin’ to track me down, yeah.
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, ooh, ooh, ooh.
I said I shot the sheriff, oh Lord,
and they say it is a capital offense, ooh, ooh, ooh.
2.
Hear this.
Sheriff John Brown always hated me.
For what? I don’t know.
Ev’ry time I plant a seed,
he said, Kill it before it grows
,
he said, Kill them before they grow
.
And so, and so, read it in the news.
I shot the sheriff,
but I swear it was in self-defense, ooh, ooh, ooh.
I said, I shot the sheriff,
but I swear it was in self-defense, yeah.
3.
Freedom came my way one day
and I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden, I saw sheriff John Brown
aimin’ to shoot me down,
so I shot, I shot, I shot him down.
And I say if I am guilty, I will pay.
Chorus
4.
Reflexes had the better of me,
and what is to be must be.
Ev’ry day the bucket a-go a well;
‖: one day the bottom a-go drop out. :‖
I say, I, I, I, I shot the sheriff,
Lord I didn’t shoot no deputy, no.
Yeah, I, I shot the sheriff,
but I didn’t shoot no deputy, yeah, so, yeah.