Johnny 99

[Verse 1]

Well, they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late last night

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 you hit a red light, you don't stop

Johnny is wavin’ his gun 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 stared poor Johnny down

"Well, thе evidence is clеar, gonna let the sentence fit the crime

Ninety-eight and a year, we'll call it even, Johnny 99"

[Accordion Solo]

[Bridge]

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 a statement you'd like to make

Before the bailiff comes and forever take you away?"

[Verse 3]

"Now, judge, judge, I had no debts no honest man could pay

The bank was holdin' my mortgage, they were takin' 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

And if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that's in his head

Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over, judge, one more time?

Let 'em shave off my hair and put me on the execution line"