Lyrics to
Johnny Was

This version of Johnny Was was released by Bob Marley in 1976.

Our Decade Lyrics Bob Marley profile has all of the Johnny Was lyrics from 1976 and many more songs from the Bob Marley discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Marley or about the 1970s in general.

(Wo-o-o-o! Wo-o-o-o! Wooo!)
Woman hold her head and cry,
‘Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
From a stray bullet.

Woman hold her head and cry;
Explaining to her was a passerby
Who saw the woman cry (cry)
Wondering how can she work it out,
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death, yeah!
Gift of Jah is life. (life)
She cried: Ah-um, I – I know!
“Johnny was a good man,” I – I know! (never did a thing wrong)
“Johnny was a good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good,
good, good, good man”, (Johnny was good man)
she cried – she crie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ied!

Wo-ooh! Woman hold her head and cry,
As her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system. (system)

Woman hold her head and cry;
Comforting her I was passing by.
She complained, then she cry:
Oh-ooh-wo-ah, cry (ah-ah), yeah, I know now (ah-ah),
no I know, I know now: (Johnny was a good man)
Said I know, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. (Never did a thing wrong)
Ah! Ah! (Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care, she cried, (Never did a thing wrong)
Cease towards the child she bear? (Johnny was a good man)
Wo-ho-ho-ooh! Woman cry, woman – (Never did a thing wrong)
She cried, wo-oh! She cried, yeah! (Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care
Cease towards the child she bear? (Never did a thing wrong)
Wo-now, cry! (Johnny was a good man)

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Bob Marley has released many songs over the years besides Johnny Was. Bob Marley released songs from 1973 to 1995 spanning across albums like Catch A Fire, Burnin', Natty Dread, Live!, Rastaman Vibration, Exodus, Kaya, Babylon By Bus, Survival, Uprising, Confrontation, Rebel Music, and Natural Mystic: The Legend Lives On. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bob Marley.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Johnny Was by Bob Marley

The lyrics to Johnny Was are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Bob Marley in 1976. Elements of the lyrics to Johnny Was are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Bob Marley and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Johnny Was back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Johnny Was by Bob Marley in a number of ways. 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 Johnny Was" means the words set to the music of Johnny Was, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Marley. 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 Johnny Was and the lyrics to Johnny Was are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Marley who came here looking just for the lyrics to Johnny Was, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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