(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!