Talk:I Shot the Sheriff

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Contents

[edit] stupidty

i dont get this song

How can you not get it? --Taurus8 sam 05:07, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Theme/Meaning

Marley's cute comment notwithstanding, most of the theories I've read on this song connect it with heroin use.

That is possibly the most bizarre stretch of the imagination I have ever seen. Does that mean Buffalo Soldier is about tripping on mushrooms?--Koncorde 16:41, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you could explain the connection for the rest of us...or, just leave us hanging, wondering. Tooktheskinheadsbowling (talk) 23:21, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccurate?

I'm pretty sure Bob Marley didn't write "I Shot The Sheriff." I could be wrong. Does anyone know? Caesar 22:44, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

He wrote it. Teklund 09:21, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Another inaccuracy someone could fix rather quickly (I won't because i don't know which way its wrong): it says the song was released in 1973 by Bob Marley & The Wailers. Bob Marley & the Wailers were formed in 1974...Therefore either the song was released after that date, or more likely, the Band name should simply be The Wailers. (someone can delete this paragraph when it is fixed) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.48.0.59 (talk) 07:22, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Clapton Recording

I distinctly hear Paul McCartney's voice in the second chorus of Clapton's studio recording on the line "But I swear it was in self defense." Am I losing my mind or could Sir Paul have dropped by the recording studio that day and chimed in on the chrous for some fun? --192.88.212.32 21:59, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] meaning

The sheriff had it in for him. Hence the lines, "whenever I plant a seed, he kill it before it grow" meaning that he has killed the narrator's children, so they that couldn't extract vengence on him if they grow up after the sheriff has killed the narrator. He also says, "but I didn't shoot the deputy" and then later wails, "but where was the deputy?" implying that the deputy was on the level and upheld the law and didn't bear the grduge for him that the sheriff did, and the sheriff likely shot the deputy so that no one would be able to intercede upon him shooting the narrator, who then shoots the sheriff in self-defense. JesseRafe 07:44, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I think it's a little more complex - my interpretation has always been that the sheriff is the deputy in question. (He's a deputy of the law, isn't he?) The meaning of the song to me is that he killed John Brown the man, not John Brown the policeman. 'where was the deputy?' is a take on the injustice of being persecuted by a man who is supposed to represent the law.
This can be expanded out a little more - he killed the sheriff, but he has no brief with the law that he represents. The sheriff, in threatening him, wasn't a deputy of the law - there's no justice in doing that - only a man. So the intent of the song is that he has no problem with the system as a whole - just with the human beings exploiting it to exercise their personal vendettas. ACK-47 21:21, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
Both of those theories are stretching the song from a literal meaning. First, a deputy is normally a volunteer. The sheriff is an elected and paid official. Killing the sheriff is one thing - he's in charge. Killing a deputy means you killed a volunteer from the local community who was just trying to help keep things in order. Therefore, the song opens by explaining that everyone (not just the police) are angry with him for killing a deputy. As for "planting a seed", why assume that he wasn't talking about marijuana? Every other time he has referred to seeds or plants, he has meant marijuana. So, the sheriff wouldn't let him grow his marijuana. He freed himself of the sheriff by shooting him - claiming that the sheriff was going to shoot him if he didn't kill the sheriff in self defense. He is willing to be arrested for shooting the sheriff, but repeats that he did not shoot the deputy. --Kainaw (talk) 19:37, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

You people are all idiots. This song is about an actual person, Gregorio Cortez.

That may or may not be the case. I don't see any empirical evidence to support the claim, however. 216.36.186.2 (talk) 18:20, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

I think there's more to it. The sheriff disliked him, always putting him down when he had the chance. He resented the man's success as a farmer and/or as a father...he spoke openly about killing the "seeds", that is the crops and the man's children, before they could grow. The resentment inside him (the sheriff) keeps building and building. Then the day came that the man was freed from slavery, maybe he earned his slave price or was an indentured slave. Anyway, that was the breaking point for the sheriff. "Every day the bucket goes to the well, one day the bottom will drop out". He just could not let this man walk off free. He snapped. The sheriff shot the deputy, intending to blame the man for it. (Maybe he also had issues with the deputy too, who knows.) Then he goes to shoot the man. (Remember, the sheriff has killed the deputy, and if he kills the man, he can easily blame the deputy's death on him. The sheriff would get the respect and gratitude of the whole town.) He shoots, but the man's reflexes "get the better of him" and he fires back in self-defense, killing the sheriff. Now the town is stuck with the dead sheriff and deputy, and this man has to plead his case. Even he does not understand what happened, but as he says, "where was the deputy?" Did I mention that I love crime shows? Tooktheskinheadsbowling (talk) 23:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)