[Bob Marley]



(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 selfdefence.)

Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

I say: I shot the sheriff - Oh, Lord! -

(And they say it is a capital offence.)

Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-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-defence.)

Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)

I say: I shot the sheriff,

But I swear it was in selfdefence. (Oo-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! (Oo-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! No, yeah!