I Shot the Sheriff
Bob Marley
Burnin (1973)

"I want to say 'I shot the police' but the government would have made a fuss so I said 'I shot the sheriff' instead... but it's the same idea: justice." Bob, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh never blended and complemented each other better than in this timeless testimony of innocence and defiance from the Burnin album. 'If I am guilty I will pay!'. The song also provided Eric Clapton with a number one hit in America, drawing attention to Marley's extraordinary songwriting talents. The versions from Live! and Talkin' Blues were recorded from an extraordinary two night engagement in the summer of 1975 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London; the version on Talkin' Blues is taken from the first of the two concert nights.
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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 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, 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
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, oh, now, now,
Read it in the news

I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self defense
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Where was the deputy?
I said I shot the sheriff but I swear it was in self defense

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
Ooh, no, oh
I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy
Ooo, ooo, ooh

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
One day the bottom a-go drop out
I say, I, I, ...

I, I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot the deputy, no
(Repeat)