F# - 244322
E -  022100


[Verse 1]
          B
Well they closed down the auto
plant in Mahwah late that month
               B
Ralph went out looking for a
                         F#
job but he couldn't find none
        B
He came home too drunk from
mixing Tanqueray and wine
      B
Got a gun shot a night clerk
         F#               B
now they call him Johnny 99


[Verse 2]
            B
Down in the part of town where
when you hit a red light you
don't stop Johnny's waving his
B
gun around threatening to blow
    F#         B
his top Til an off duty cop
snuck up on him from behind
                 B
Out front of the club Tip Top
                 F#               B
they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99


[Chorus 1]
                 E
Well the city supplied a public
                 B
defender but the judge was mean
              B
John Brown He came into the
courtroom and stared young Johnny
F#            B
down Well the evidence is clear
gonna let the sentence son fit
the crime Prison for 98 and a
                 F#           B
year and call it even Johnny 99


[Post Chorus]
B B F# B B F# B


[Chorus 2]
  E
A fist fight broke out in the
                      B
courtroom they had to drag
                       B
Johnny's girl away His mama
stood up and shouted Judge
                       F#
don't take my boy this way
     B
Well son you got any
statement you'd like to make
         B
Fore the bailiff come
  F#                  B
to  forever take you away


[Verse 4]
B
Judge judge I had debts
no honest man could pay
             B
The bank was holding my
mortgage and were gonna
               F#
take my house away
       B
Well I ain't saying that
makes me an innocent man
           B
But it was more than all this
              F#        B
that put that gun in my hand


[Chorus 3/Outro]
          B
Well your honor I do believe
I'd be better off dead And if
        B
you can take a man's life for
                           F#
the thoughts that's in his head
         B
Well sit back in that chair
and think it over judge
         B          B
one more time Gonna shave
off my hair and put me
F#                B   B
on that execution line