(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!