JOHNNY 99

D   A   D

           D
Well, they closed down the auto plant, in Mahwah late that month
                                                       A
Ralph went out lookin' for a job, but he couldn't find none
          D
He came home too drunk from mixin' Tanqueray and wine
                                        A                      D
He got a gun, shot a night clerk, now they call him Johnny Ninety-nine


Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatin' 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

                   G                                  D
Well, the city supplied a public defender, but the judge was Mean John Brown
                                                  A
He came into the courtroom and stared poor Johnny down
             D
Well, the evidence is clear, gonna let the sentence son, fit the crime
                                                      A                     D
Prison for ninety-eight and a year, and we'll call it even, Johnny Ninety-nine

Break

               G?
Well, 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

Now, judge, judge, I got debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and takin' my house away
Now, I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more ?n all this that put that gun in my hand

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
And let ?em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line