(Riff):
e|-------------------------||
B|-------------------------||
G|------------------------*||
D|--5-3-------------------*||
A|-------5-3-----5-3-------||
E|------------6-------6-3--||

[Chorus 1]
Gm
 I shot the sheriff,
Cm                     Gm
 But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
Gm
 I shot the sheriff,
Cm                     Gm
 But I didn't shoot no deputy. Ooh, ooh, oo-ooh.

[Verse 1]
Eb     Dm7      Gm
 All a-round in my home town,
        Eb        Dm7      Gm
They're tryin' to track me down;
Eb             Dm7                 Gm
 They say they want to bring me in guilty,
        Eb           Dm7  Gm
For the killing of a depu-ty,
        Eb        Dm7 Gm
For the life of a dep-uty. But I say...

(Riff):[Chorus 2]
Gm
 I shot the sheriff,
Cm                     Gm
 But I swear it was in self-defence. (Oh, no! Yeah!)
       Gm                     Cm
I say; I shot the sheriff, oh Lord!
                     Gm
And they say it is a capital offence. Yeah!

[Verse 2]
Eb       Dm7               Gm
 Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
    Eb     Dm7      Gm
For what... I don't know.
      Eb     Dm7     Gm
Every time I plant a seed,
        Eb         Dm7     Gm
He said kill it be-fore it grow,
        Eb           Dm7       Gm
He said kill them be-fore they grow. And so, and so...

(Riff) [Chorus 1]

[Verse 3]
Eb               Dm7     Gm
 Freedom came my way one day,
      Eb      Dm7     Gm
And I started, out of town, yeah!
Eb        Dm7          Gm
 All of a sudden I saw Sheriff John Brown,
Eb         Dm7      Gm
 Aiming to shoot me down,
     Eb      Dm7              Gm
So I shot, I shot, I shot him down. And I say...

(Riff) [Chorus 2]
[Soli]

[Verse 4]
   Eb             Dm7       Gm
Re-flexes had the better of me,
    Eb         Dm7     Gm
And what is to be must be.
      Eb       Dm7           Gm
Every day, the bucket a-go a-well,
Eb           Dm7         Gm
 One day the bottom a-go drop out,
Eb           Dm7         Gm
 One day the bottom a-go drop out.

(Riff) (I say)... [Chorus 1]