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 Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that 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'm Johnny 99 Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop Johnny's 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 Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call 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 a statement you'd like to make Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was 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
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Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)
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