I Shot the Sheriff



"I Shot the Sheriff" is a song written by Bob Marley and released in 1973 by The Wailers.

Bob Marley and the Wailers version
The story is told from the point of view of a narrator who admits to having killed the local sheriff, and claims to be falsely accused of having killed the deputy sheriff. The narrator also claims to have acted in self-defense when the sheriff tried to shoot him. The song was first released in 1973 on The Wailers' album Burnin'. Marley explained his intention as follows: "I want to say 'I shot the police' but the government would have made a fuss so I said 'I shot the sheriff' instead… but it's the same idea: justice."

In 1992, with the controversy surrounding the Ice-T song "Cop Killer", Marley's song was often cited by Ice-T's supporters as evidence of his detractors' hypocrisy considering the older song was never similarly criticized despite having much the same theme.

In 2012, Bob Marley's former girlfriend Esther Anderson claimed that the lyrics, "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" are actually about Marley being very opposed to her use of birth control pills; Marley supposedly substituted the word "doctor" with sheriff.

Eric Clapton version
Eric Clapton recorded a cover version that was included on his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard. His take on the song belongs to the musical genres of soft rock and reggae. It is the most successful cover version of the song, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, Clapton's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Warren G version
"I Shot the Sheriff" was the lead single released from Warren G's second album, Take a Look Over Your Shoulder. Warren replaced Marley's original lyrics with his own, though Clapton's version of the song is sampled and R&B singer Nancy Fletcher sings the original chorus. The song was a hit in several countries. In the US, it peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Gold by the RIAA on 2 May 1997. It peaked at number two in the UK and at number one in New Zealand.

The official remix was produced by EPMD member Erick Sermon, it is based around EPMD's "Strictly Business", which also sampled Clapton's version of the song.

Later samplings, allusions and covers

 * On the 16 February 1977 episode of The Jacksons, "I Shot the Sheriff" was mashed up with "Cisco Kid" and was led by singer Michael Jackson in an old western bar scene.
 * British band, Light of the World recorded a jazzed-up version in 1980.
 * On EPMD's 1988 Strictly Business LP, the title track uses a sample of "I Shot the Sheriff" (Clapton's version).
 * In Mary J. Blige's 1992 debut album (What's the 411?), Grand Puba declared "I shot the sheriff and put six up in the deputy" in the title track.
 * In the 1994 hip hop mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat, a scene involving gangsta rapper Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff) getting pulled over by a gated community’s security guard unit has one guard confiscating one of his registered guns and sarcastically says: "Let me guess…you shot the sheriff, but you didn’t shoot the deputy."
 * On Erik Truffaz' 1998 album The Dawn, the final track "Free Stylin'" with vocals by Nya contains the lyric "Bob shot the sheriff; me, I come to finish the deputy."
 * Screamin' Jay Hawkins, in At Last, 1998.
 * On "Double Trouble", a track from The Roots' album Things Fall Apart, Mos Def raps "I shot the sheriff, the deputy, the head of bank treasuries."
 * Bob Marley's children "Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers" have performed the song during their concerts, most notably at Chiemsee Reggae Summer in Germany in July 2000.
 * In 2000, the song was covered in a ska punk version by Voodoo Glow Skulls on their album Symbolic. It was also covered by former American Idol contestant Jason Castro in 2008.
 * In The Simpsons episode #248 ("Behind the Laughter"), Marge Simpson performs the opening of the song as part of a nightclub act. She then tells her audience, "So next time you see a sheriff, shoot him.... a smile!"
 * In The Sopranos episode 4.11 ("Calling All Cars"), which aired in 2002, Eric Clapton's rendition can be heard playing in the background when Tony Soprano is on the phone with Svetlana.
 * In 2004, Tom Morello, under his persona, The Nightwatchman, borrowed and changed lyrics from the song during his performance of "Until the End", as part of the Axis of Justice Concert Series Volume 1. The lyrics he used were: "...three times I shot the sheriff; and did not spare the deputy". A studio version of the song was later released on his album One Man Revolution.
 * Argentine singer Andrés Calamaro made a mashup of the first verse of the song with the last one of his own "El Dia Mundial de la Mujer" (Women's World Day), when played alive on his Honestidad Brutal tour.
 * In the song "Be Free" by Bob's son Ziggy Marley, a brief line in the song says: "I shot the deputy, now you know." Ziggy was four years old when his father's song was released.
 * In the Eureka episode 'Reprise' (4.12), characters are acting out song lyrics, including Jo who shoots Carter under this song's influence.
 * The song can be heard during a cut-scene in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (2012).
 * Sheriff John Brown is mentioned in the song "Bad Boys" by reggae group Inner Circle.
 * Drum and bass artst Roni Size released a remix of the song for the Legend: Remixed album in 2013.
 * In 2014, production duo N.A.S.A. and singer Karen O covered the song, which was used in a Sonos commercial that aired during the Super Bowl.