Today’s song is ‘I Shot the Sheriff’. This song was written by Bob Marley and released in 1973 by ‘Bob Marley and the Wailers’. Bob Marley and the Wailers version was cited by the singer ’Ice-T’ and his supporters when defending their release of the controversial record, ‘Cop Killer’ in later years. Marley’s song spoke of shooting a sheriff whilst ‘Ice-T’ sung about killing a cop. Supporters of ‘Ice-T’ indicated as evidence of his detractors' hypocrisy, that the older song was never similarly criticized despite having much the same theme.
In 2012, Bob Marley's former girlfriend Esther Anderson claimed that the lyrics, ‘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’ are actually about Marley being very opposed to her use of birth control pills. She says that Marley supposedly substituted the word ‘doctor’ with ‘sheriff’.
Eric Clapton recorded a cover version that was included on his 1974 album ‘461 Ocean Boulevard’. His take on the song has a soft rock and reggae sound. It is the most successful version of the song, peaking at Number 1 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’. In 2003, Clapton's version was inducted into the ‘Grammy Hall of Fame’.
I remember well the controversy that tried to justify the release of ‘Ice-T’s record of ‘Cop Killer’ in the early 1990s.The ‘Cop Killer’ song was composed for the heavy metal band, ’Body Count’, and was released on Body Count’s self-titled debut album. The song's lyrics about ‘cop killing provoked much controversy and negative reactions from political figures of the time. Others stated ‘Cop Killers’ to be a ‘protest song’ of the volatile times in America between the police and the black citizen. Eventually, Ice-T recalled the album and re-released it without the inclusion of the song, which was given away as a free single. Meanwhile, Marley’s song ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ went to receive much acclaim.
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As a Probation Officer for 27 years, while I came into contact and worked with many murderers, the only person whom I ever came across who had killed a policeman was the wife of a policeman. She told the court that the man she married could not be recognised as the husband she killed. She indicated that the mounting stress of the job (this was in the early 80s) and the ever increasing need to produce better figures of detection each year, led him to falsify evidence to get a person they knew was guilty of the crime but one whom they could not prove guilty without planted evidence or false witness.
Year after year, the kind and sensitive man who wouldn’t swat a fly away from his face gradually learned how to wind his wife up for no other reason than to have a row and ‘get in her face’. He started drinking heavily after joining the police force and after the second child came along and his wife seemed to get less and less interested in sharing his bed, he began several extra marital relationships.
Eventually, arguments between the couple became more frequent and aggressive and would always culminate in physical blows being struck by both parties, often in front of the children. During one such almighty row that had quickly blown up into a physical fight, she hit her alcohol affected husband on the head with a heavy blunt object that was to hand and he died of head wounds before the ambulance could get him to the hospital. I cannot recall the precise sentence but remember it was a suspended sentence the woman received.
Love and peace Bill xxx
In 2012, Bob Marley's former girlfriend Esther Anderson claimed that the lyrics, ‘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’ are actually about Marley being very opposed to her use of birth control pills. She says that Marley supposedly substituted the word ‘doctor’ with ‘sheriff’.
Eric Clapton recorded a cover version that was included on his 1974 album ‘461 Ocean Boulevard’. His take on the song has a soft rock and reggae sound. It is the most successful version of the song, peaking at Number 1 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’. In 2003, Clapton's version was inducted into the ‘Grammy Hall of Fame’.
I remember well the controversy that tried to justify the release of ‘Ice-T’s record of ‘Cop Killer’ in the early 1990s.The ‘Cop Killer’ song was composed for the heavy metal band, ’Body Count’, and was released on Body Count’s self-titled debut album. The song's lyrics about ‘cop killing provoked much controversy and negative reactions from political figures of the time. Others stated ‘Cop Killers’ to be a ‘protest song’ of the volatile times in America between the police and the black citizen. Eventually, Ice-T recalled the album and re-released it without the inclusion of the song, which was given away as a free single. Meanwhile, Marley’s song ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ went to receive much acclaim.
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As a Probation Officer for 27 years, while I came into contact and worked with many murderers, the only person whom I ever came across who had killed a policeman was the wife of a policeman. She told the court that the man she married could not be recognised as the husband she killed. She indicated that the mounting stress of the job (this was in the early 80s) and the ever increasing need to produce better figures of detection each year, led him to falsify evidence to get a person they knew was guilty of the crime but one whom they could not prove guilty without planted evidence or false witness.
Year after year, the kind and sensitive man who wouldn’t swat a fly away from his face gradually learned how to wind his wife up for no other reason than to have a row and ‘get in her face’. He started drinking heavily after joining the police force and after the second child came along and his wife seemed to get less and less interested in sharing his bed, he began several extra marital relationships.
Eventually, arguments between the couple became more frequent and aggressive and would always culminate in physical blows being struck by both parties, often in front of the children. During one such almighty row that had quickly blown up into a physical fight, she hit her alcohol affected husband on the head with a heavy blunt object that was to hand and he died of head wounds before the ambulance could get him to the hospital. I cannot recall the precise sentence but remember it was a suspended sentence the woman received.
Love and peace Bill xxx
