Bob Marley – I Shot The Sheriff     (Album: Burnin’ (1973))

Am       Am             Dm    Dm                Am  Am Am Am

I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.  X2

F    Em            Am    Am

All around in my home town

they’re trying to track me down.

They say they want to bring me in guilty

for the killing of a deputy,

for the killing of a deputy.

           Am Am Am Am

But I say:

I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense.  X2

Sheriff John Brown always hated me

for what I don’t know.

Ev’ry time that I plant a seed

he said “Kill it before it grow,”

he said “Kill it before it grow.”

But I say:

I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense.  X2

Freedom came my way one day

and I started out of town.

All of a sudden I see sheriff John Brown,

aiming to shoot me down.

So I shot, I shot him down.

But I say:

I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.  X2

Reflexes got the better of me

and what is to be must be.

Ev’ry day the bucket goes to the well,

but one day the bottom will drop out,

yes one day the bottom will drop out.

But I say: