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.
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...
I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in self-defence. (Oh, no! Yeah!)
I say; I shot the sheriff, oh Lord!
And they say it is a capital offence. 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 it grow. And so:
(Read it in the news!)
I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in self-defence. (Oh, no! Yeah!)
I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in self-defence. (Oh, no! 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 didn't shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff,
But I didn't shoot no deputy. Ooh, ooh, oo-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. Yeah!
I-I...(shot the sheriff),
But I didn't shoot no deputy. Yeah! So, yeah!