“I Shot the Sheriff" is a song written by Bob Marley and released in 1973 by Bob Marley and the Wailers. This was the last single Marley released with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, who left The Wailers to go solo.

Marley had released the song on The Wailers’ 1973 ‘Burnin’ album. The following year, Eric Clapton covered the tune for his 461 Ocean Boulevard LP. Clapton’s version really took off in summer ’74, and it hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts in mid-September. It’s the only No. 1 of Clapton’s career.

While Clapton’s cover meant good things for Marley’s reputation on the international scene, he reportedly had conflicting emotions about it when he heard that version of “I Shot the Sheriff” getting more airplay than his own music in Jamaica. Back in Jamaica, it was getting played in heavy rotation on the island’s two radio stations.

In the 1985 biography Bob Marley, Stephen Davis wrote that this infuriated Marley. At that point, he’d already had trouble getting his music in the rotation on Jamaican airwaves. Davis wrote that Marley and a few associates had gone to strong-arm DJs into giving his music more exposure.

The song tells the story of a man who shoots a sheriff who is harassing him but is wrongly accused of killing the deputy. Marley said that some of it is true but would not say what parts. He went on to say, “I wanted to say, ‘I shot the police’ but the government would have made a fuss, so I said, ‘I shot the sheriff’ instead… but it’s the same idea: justice.”

Recent revelations indicate there may be a more personal layer to the song. According to Esther Anderson, a former girlfriend of Marley, the song’s lyrics grew out of their disagreements over her use of birth control.

Various Sources