[Verse 1]
Well, they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late last month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin' Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun, shot a night clerk, now they call him Johnny 99
[Verse 2]
Down in the part of town where where you hit a red light, you can't stop
Johnny's wavin' his guns around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top, they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
[Bridge]
Well, the city supplied a public defender
But the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom
And he stared poor Johnny down
"Well, the evidence is clear, gonna let the sentence, son, fit the crime
Prison for ninety-eight and a year, we'll call it even, Johnny 99"
[Instrumental Break]
[Bridge]
A fistfight broke out in the courtroom
They had to drag Johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted
"Judge, don't take my boy this way"
"Well, son, you got any statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away?"
[Verse 3]
"Now, judge, judge, I got debts no honest man can pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and threatenin' to take my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more than all this that put that gun in my hand
[Verse 4]
"Well, Your Honor, I do believe I'd be better off dead
If you can take a man's life for the thoughts that are in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over, judge, one more time?
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line"
[Outro]
Let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line
Lyrics provided by LRCLIB
