I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Woman hold her head and cry
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
From a stray bullet
Woman hold her head and cry
Explaining to her was a passerby
Who saw the woman cry (cry)
Wondering
How can she work it out
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death, yeah!
Gift of Jah is life (life)
She cried
Ah-um, I, I know!
Johnny was a good man
I, I know! (never did a thing wrong)
Johnny was a good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good man
(Johnny was good man) He cried, he cried
Wo-ooh! Woman hold her head and cry
As her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system (system)
Woman hold her head and cry
Comforting her I was passing by
She complained, then she cry
Oh-whoah
yeah, I know now, I know, I know now (Johnny was a good man)
Said I know, hmm (Never did a thing wrong)
(Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care, she cried, (Never did a thing wrong)
Cease towards the child she bear? (Johnny was a good man)
Wo-ho-ho-ooh! Woman cry, woman (Never did a thing wrong)
She cried, wo-oh! She cried, yeah! (Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care
Cease towards the child she bear? (Never did a thing wrong)
Wo-now, cry! (Johnny was a good man)
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
From a stray bullet
Woman hold her head and cry
Explaining to her was a passerby
Who saw the woman cry (cry)
Wondering
How can she work it out
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death, yeah!
Gift of Jah is life (life)
She cried
Ah-um, I, I know!
Johnny was a good man
I, I know! (never did a thing wrong)
Johnny was a good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good man
(Johnny was good man) He cried, he cried
Wo-ooh! Woman hold her head and cry
As her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system (system)
Woman hold her head and cry
Comforting her I was passing by
She complained, then she cry
Oh-whoah
yeah, I know now, I know, I know now (Johnny was a good man)
Said I know, hmm (Never did a thing wrong)
(Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care, she cried, (Never did a thing wrong)
Cease towards the child she bear? (Johnny was a good man)
Wo-ho-ho-ooh! Woman cry, woman (Never did a thing wrong)
She cried, wo-oh! She cried, yeah! (Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care
Cease towards the child she bear? (Never did a thing wrong)
Wo-now, cry! (Johnny was a good man)
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Johnny Was Lyrics as written by Rita Anderson Marley
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is a story about inocent person who died because gang fighting. Brothers, stop fighting, Johnny was a good man, never did a thing wrong!!