48 years ago Eric Clapton’s cover version of Bob Marley & The Wailers classic “I Shot The Sheriff” reached no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was included on his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard. Clapton’s version of I Shot The Sheriff is soft rock and its the most successful rendition of the song to date.
It is the rock singer’s only US number one and In 2003, Clapton’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The Wheels Of Fire singer has been named by Rolling Stone magazine as second-greatest guitarist of all time, and is a three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
Marley wasn’t particularly pleased that Clapton’s version was getting more airplay than him in Jamaica and according to one book, he had to pay the DJs a visit.
In the 1985 biography Bob Marley, Stephen Davis wrote that Marley already had trouble getting his music in the rotation on Jamaican airwaves and a few associates had to go strong-arm DJs into giving his music more exposure.
“Clapton’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ was being played every hour on the JBC, while the Wailers’ new single ‘Knotty Dread’ was never to be heard,” Davis noted in Bob Marley. In fact, JBC disc jockeys were playing the Clapton single (per Davis) “as no Wailers song ever had been.”
Hardly the case now in Jamaica that they would play his version over Marley- the music legend Clapton faced criticism recently for his anti-vax sentiments because he opposed lockdowns and made claims about the dangers of vaccines. To follow up the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awardee dropped the song “This Has Got To Stop” In April last year.
Wailers Version
The Wailers version of I Shot The Sheriff was released a year before Clapton’s rendition in 1973 on their sixth album Burnin’. Marley explained that what he really wanted to say was ‘I shot the police’ but feared government backlash in the tumultuous 70s so he said ‘I shot the sheriff’ instead but the song’s intention is about justice. Bob also explained to Journalist Karl Dallas in 1975 while in London that it’s a message.
“I shot The Sheriff is like shot wickedness..is not really just a Sheriff is just the elements of wickedness.”
Marley’s version is certified silver in the U.K. for selling more than 200,000 units while Clapton’s version is certified platinum(1,000,000) by the RIAA.
Over the years there has been several artist who reference “I Shot The Sheriff” as a standard for speaking out against injustices with the police. In 1992, after facing controversy for the song “Cop Killer”, Ice-T drew on similarities with the Marley’s song to cry hypocrisy, saying they never criticized the Gong for his words although they are about the same topic.
