# I shot the sheriff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 30, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031 "2025-05-30T23:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/41 "2025-05-31T14:03:37Z")
If there was no deputy, and so no deputy was shot, why does the song mention a deputy? Regardless of the precise meaning of the vernacular wording iof the OP’s cited line of the chorus, the narrator is speaking as if he’s being charged with the killing of a deputy _and_ a sheriff. Or maybe we’re / I’m conflating “shot” with “killed”. In one verse the narrator says he’s being tried “for the killing of a deputy”. That seems very hard for any of us to misunderstand, whether in Jamaican English, UK English, or American English. In any case he asserts he did not do that. Separately he asserts he “shot” (but did not necessarily kill) the sheriff. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/42 "2025-05-31T14:05:32Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I still don’t get why you are assuming any deputy at all was killed by anybody (song lyrics) > They say they want to bring me in guilty > For the killing of a deputy Later in the song: > Where was the deputy? Especially in live performances, “he” seems to take pride in killing the Sheriff, and he believes the outcome was deserving (as do I) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/43 "2025-05-31T14:09:26Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > They say they want to bring me in guilty > For the killing of a deputy That line completely escaped my notice. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/44 "2025-05-31T14:09:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In one verse the narrator says he’s being tried “for the killing of a deputy”. Right! I forgot that line. Anyway, it sounds like he’s being framed for the killing of a deputy, which he didn’t do, but he did, indeed shoot the sheriff in self defense. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/45 "2025-05-31T14:14:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Separately he asserts he “shot” (but did not necessarily kill) the sheriff. And that could matter to his case if he can somehow dispense of the deputy charge. We can assume if the sheriff was not killed he certainly will not help out with the other charge and likely assert that he never hated anyone and some ex-con came out gunning after all law officers. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/46 "2025-05-31T15:04:36Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Here’s a little known white rock band doing reggae in 1973 And here’s an even lesser-known band covering them in a reggae(-ish) manner [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3CO7FPU7a2g/hqdefault.jpg "Dread Zeppelin - Immigrant Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CO7FPU7a2g) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/47 "2025-05-31T15:53:17Z")
I heard at least the name of this band before. Didn’t know it had a lead singer who looks (and sounds a bit like 70s Elvis) and, though he’s playing a six-string, a proto-Flea (is he wearing a shower curtain?) > [@XOldiesJock](#): > > “Israelites” by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker Great song, though I thought Madness did a proper, competent and respectful cover. > [@Skywatcher](#): > > Jamaican singer [Tony Tribe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Tribe) beat them to it in '69 but his version apparently only charted in the UK, where it barely missed the top-40. I’m just looking at the title of that video, thinking, “So that’s where Madness got the line ‘The Heavy Heavy Monster Sound’ from in their song ‘One Step Beyond’” Cool. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The Clash had reggae in their repertoire from the beginning. They covered Junior Murvin’s “Police And Thieves” on their debut album from 1977. Indeed, yet record companies and radio stations simply had to put a title on their style and it was always something like “punk”, then The Jam and Blondie came along and it wasn’t so easy to pigeon hole them, and then what to do with The Cars or Adam and the Ants. The mess of Disco, Punk-rockers (Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash) then U2 must have been a nightmare for those poor radio station programmers. I mentioned Elvis Costello’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live and Lorne Michaels had passed on how the bosses at 38 Rock (aka The RCA building) had forbidden him to play “Radio, Radio”. I’m guessing the lyrics most offensive seeming were: > But they don’t give you any choice > 'Cause they think that it’s treason > So you had better do as you are told > You better listen to the radio And in a very “punk” move, he starts playing a few bars of “Less than Zero” then stops and plays > **[Elvis Costello - Radio Radio - SNL original footage 1977 (first portion only)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD_24nDzkeo%2F)** > > Elvis Costello and the Attractions were supposed to play ‘Less Than Zero' but only a few bars into the song, Costello put a stop to it. “I’m sorry, ladies an... I’m not even sure that made the Pacific re-broadcast back then. Elvis has played the show since, and really a song like “Oliver’s Army” from a couple years later has what might be considered more inflammatory lyrics (though mostly targeted at the UK) From wiki: > “Watching the Detectives” is a 1977 single by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. Inspired by the Clash and Bernard Herrmann, the song features a reggae beat and cynical lyrics. Well, that is what Elvis does. Warren Zevon too. “Cynic Rock!” Didn’t know about the inspiration by the Clash. Wiki at least pegs the Genre as “Reggae, New Wave, Rock” which sorta is an example of what I was just saying earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/48 "2025-05-31T18:19:43Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > I guess my point was Eric Clapton’s song (which after listening to it again doesn’t quite come across as reggae) yet Paul Simon, from Queens, NY was doing this stuff in the early 1970’s The Harder They Come, a reggae movie starring Jimmy Cliff, came out in 1972 and was in the Orson Welles theater in Cambridge for ages. Nothing by Marley in it, but it did have a Desmond Dekker song (Shanty Town, great). Great movie, great soundtrack. So reggae was well known by that time, though when I tried to get a local radio station to play it in late 1973 (I went there to pick up a record I won in a contest) they pooh-poohed it. They also thought Michael Jackson was never going to amount to much. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/49 "2025-06-03T12:19:32Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Great song, though I thought Madness did a proper, competent and respectful cover. Of course they did. If someone only knew Madness from their “cheeky chappie” hits like _House of Fun_ and _Our House_, they’ might have have missed the genuine respect they had for their forebears, from their name to their [first single](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_y7gC4T58g). And their genuine musical talent and willingness to tackle [serious](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6pF1CwjKpA) [topics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P23Gqn6y8AI), too. Of course, Madness is ska, not reggae. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/50 "2025-06-03T13:01:11Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Of course, Madness is ska, not reggae. Yeah, a lot of confusion in this thread about those two genres. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/51 "2025-06-03T13:39:39Z")
As well as “funky rhythms with the downbeat on the 2 and 4 counts”… ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/52 "2025-06-03T15:05:08Z")
Indeed, serious. I’m no more an expert on London Tube Stations (and yes I call them that) than I drive a Black Cab, so did look up “Cairo East” and apparently the first result is “Fictional Tube Stations” yet only because of mentions in the comments. And there’s otherwise like 20 others to prank-send someone to, “Yah, mate, take this to Waterloo and look for the Cairo East and you’re all sorted” I am also informed there is no London Underground connection to Cairo, Egypt. Learn something new everyday. Also, if Madness is ever considered “not really reggae or ska” because of House of Fun and such, I reckon they’ve long proven their mettle and yeah, it was The Police at least who put Reggae on the map, so to speak of song rhythms (for white people) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/53 "2025-06-03T15:19:15Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > if Madness is ever considered “not really reggae or ska” because of House of Fun and such What? No. _House of Fun_ is straight-up ska, don’t know anyone who’d dispute that. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/54 "2025-06-03T15:33:11Z")
Okay, I just meant that most of their material is either reggae or ska, and if they parted from it for some “hit” song that did not mean they have to turn in their reggae cards. As I was looking through the list of songs on _Reggatta de Blanc_ I could see pop songs like “It’s alright for you” were certainly not reggae and somehow was reminded this was not their debut album. That was " _Outlandos d’Amour_ which has lots of songs, Roxanne being best covered by Eddie Murphy, yet no songs I can play in my head that are remotely reggae. I did mention Paul Simon before, yet the term reggae, to me, came from Bob himself (“Punky Reggae Party”) and then the Police’s 2nd album. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/55 "2025-06-03T16:17:17Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Also, if Madness is ever considered “not really reggae or ska” because of House of Fun I definitely consider them ska, but _House of Fun_ is the wrong example. I would say that neither _Our House_ nor _It Must Be Love_ are reggae or ska, although I love the bass line in the latter song – sort of a ska bass line under a sappy love song. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/56 "2025-06-03T16:36:06Z")
I just reviewed my non-complete catalog of Bob Marley and by title recognition or playing a bit could find nothing that he released that at the time would be considered a “hit”. There’s plenty of straight-up love songs “Waiting in vain”, “Three little birds”, “Could this be love” and others that are not at all revolutionary songs. I have to again mention the courage of Sinead O’Conner being booed at Madison Square Garden at a **Bob Dylan** Tribute, (instead) quickly singing Bob (Marley’s) anti-apartheid “War” and I still hold a grudge against those (present at MSG yet I would hope are not fellow New Yorkers) who neither understood Bob Dylan or whatever-song Sinead was singing (so thus Bob Marley as well). I knew it. And I believe it was followed by Eddie Vedder doing “Masters of War” ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/57 "2025-06-03T17:01:46Z")
I was surprised many years later when I learned that D’yer Mak’er = Did you make her? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/58 "2025-06-03T17:06:01Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Did you make her? Someone in another thread said that phrase was well known (at least in Britannia) yet I still haven’t gotten it (certainly the title or its meaning (meaning I know what it’s supposed to mean in a literal sense)), and Plant never sings the title so if there were howls of laughter about some great pun in a Led Zep song, I’m still a “fool in the rain” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/59 "2025-06-03T17:19:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I was surprised many years later when I learned that D’yer Mak’er = Did you make her I understood this, but I didn’t know the joke and never made the connection to “Jamaica”. I thought the phrase meant “Did you have sex with her?” ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031/60 "2025-06-03T17:26:09Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I understood this, but I never made the connection to “Jamaica” and didn’t know the joke. I thought the phrase meant “Did you have sex with her?” Quite the opposite to me in the USA. I figured the title had something to do with Jamaica, yet “Did Jamaica” made no sense, and “Did you make her?” also made no sense (at least to 10 year old me) and I’ve not heard the phrase used and I’m sure if I had a pound for every time Plant has been asked to explain it, I would have a lot of pounds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shot-the-sheriff/1019031.md?page=4)