Johnny 99

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

Down at the part of town where when you hit a red light, you don't stop

Johnny's wavin' his gun around and a-threatenin' to blow his top

When an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behind

Front of the Club Tip Top, they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well, the city supplied the 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, gon' let the sentence fit the crime

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

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 statements you'd like to make

Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away?"

"Yes, Judge, I've got debts no honest man could pay

The bank was holdin' my mortgage, they was 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"

"And 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 one more time?

Then let them shave off my head and burn Johnny 99"