Johnny 99 (Electric Nebraska) Lyrics – Bruce Springsteen

Johnny 99 (Electric Nebraska) Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Well, they closed down the Ford plant in Mahwah late that month
Johnny went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none
He came home too drunk from mixin’ Tanqueray and wine
Got a gun, shot a night clerk, now they call him Johnny 99

[Verse 2]
He was down in a part of town where a red light, buddy, you don’t stop
Johnny’s wavin’ a gun around and threatenin’ to blow his top
When an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Right there 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
“Wеll, the evidencе is clear, gonna let the sentence, son, fit the crime
Prison for ninety-eight and a year and we’ll call it even, Johnny 99”

[Harmonica Solo]

[Bridge]
And 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, I’m sorry, ma’am, but the law must be satisfied
Check your son’s killin’ hands and an innocent man died
You got anything you wanna say, son, before you arrive?”

[Verse 3]
“Judge, the bank was gonna come and take my house away
I have debts, Your Honor, no honest man could pay
Well now, I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man
But it was more’n all this, sir, that put that gun in my hand

[Verse 4]
“Now, Your Honor, I do believe I’d be better off dead
So if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that’s in his head
And I do believe, sir, I’d be better off a dead man
‘Cause I shot that young boy, I shot him, judge, and I ran” (Oh)

[Outro]
Good
Alright, let’s try another one