Talk:I Shot the Sheriff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article has been automatically assessed as Stub-Class by WikiProject Songs because it uses a stub template.
|
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to songs on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
| Stub | This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the assessment scale. |
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)
[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)
[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)
