Key: B
Introduction: B F# B
B
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
F#
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
B
He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine
F# B
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call him Johnny 99
Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
F#
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
B
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
F# B
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
E B
Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
F#
He came into the courtroom and stared poor Johnny down
B
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
F# B
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99
E B
A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away
F#
His mama stood up and shouted Judge don't take my boy this way
B
Well son you got any statement you'd like to make
F# B
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away
Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
F#
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away
B
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
F# B
But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand
Well your honour I do believe I'd be better off dead
F#
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
B
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
F# B
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line