Lyrics to
I Shot The Sheriff

This version of I Shot The Sheriff was released by Eric Clapton in 1974.

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

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 life of a deputy.
But I say:

I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense.
I shot the sheriff, and they say it is a capital offense.

Sheriff John Brown always hated me;
For what I don’t know.
Every time that I plant a seed
He said, “Kill it before it grows.”
He said, “Kill it before it grows.”
I say:

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

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.
I say:

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

Reflexes got the better of me
And what is to be must be.
Every 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:

I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy, oh no.
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy, oh no.

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Eric Clapton has released many songs over the years besides I Shot The Sheriff. Eric Clapton released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One In Every Crowd, No Reason To Cry, Slowhand, Backless, Another Ticket, Money And Cigarettes, Behind The Sun, August, Crossroads, Journeyman, Unplugged, From The Cradle, Pilgrim, Riding With The King, Reptile, Me And Mr. Johnson, and Back Home. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Eric Clapton.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and I Shot The Sheriff by Eric Clapton

When you decide to study the lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1974 song by Eric Clapton. Some of the lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Eric Clapton and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff" means the words set to the music of I Shot The Sheriff, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Eric Clapton. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to I Shot The Sheriff and the lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Eric Clapton who came here looking just for the lyrics to I Shot The Sheriff, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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