B  B  F#  B

            B                                             B
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
                B                                        F#
Ralph went out lookin' for a job   but he couldn't find none
         B                                       B
He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine
          B                               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
                     B                                     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
                      B                            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
                  B                                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
            B                              F#           B
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99


[HARMONICA:]  B  B  E  B    B  B  F#  B

       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
            B                  F#             B
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away
Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
              B                                                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
            B                     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
              B                    F#                       B
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line