UB40

Released: June 9, 2008

Featuring: Maxi Priest Marvin Priest DJ Beniton

Songwriter: Bob Marley

Producer: UB40

I shot the sheriff
But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff
But I didn't shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh

Yeah! All around in my home town
They're tryin' 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

Oh, now, now. Oh!
(I shot the sheriff) The sheriff
(But I swear it was in self defence)
Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff - Oh, Lord! -
(And they say it is a capital offence)
Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

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
He said kill them before they grow
And so

Read it in the news:
(I shot the sheriff) Oh, Lord!
(But I swear it was in self-defence)
Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)
I say: I shot the sheriff
But I swear it was in self defence (Oo-oh) Yeah!

Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down
So I shot, I shot, I shot him down and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay

(I shot the sheriff)
But I say (But I didn't shoot no deputy)
I didn't shoot no deputy (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I shot the sheriff) I did!
But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh! (Oo-oo-ooh)

Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be
Every day the bucket a-go a well
One day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom a-go drop out
I say

I, I, I, I shot the sheriff
Lord, I didn't shoot the deputy, yeah!
I, I (shot the sheriff)
But I didn't shoot no deputy, yeah!
No, yeah!

UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records. The ethnic make-up of the band’s original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage.

Their hit singles include their debut “Food for Thought”, “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band’s version of “I Got You Babe”. Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.

On January 24, 2008, it was announced that Ali Campbell would be leaving the group after 30 years. It was reported by some Birmingham newspapers on 13 March 2008, that Maxi Priest would be the new lead singer of UB40 and had recorded a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” with the band.

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