I Fought the Law

The song was written in 1958 by Sonny Curtis, and recorded in 1959 when he joined the Crickets, taking the place of the late Buddy Holly on guitar. Joe B. Mauldin and Jerry Allison continued their positions on the standup bass and drums, respectively, while Earl Sinks filled the role for vocals. The song was included on their 1960 album, In Style with the Crickets, and the following year appeared as the B-side of their single, "A Sweet Love". The song never received any airplay.

Milwaukee's Paul Stefen and the Royal Lancers covered the song in 1962; it provided them with a local hit, but it never made the national charts.[1] In 1964, Sammy Masters recorded his cover of the song. That same year, the song was recorded by Bobby Fuller and his band on his own Exeter label in El Paso, which solidified the band's popularity in the West Texas area with one of his biggest local hits.

"I Fought the Law"
Mid-1960s US edition of Bobby Fuller Four recording
Single by the Bobby Fuller Four
from the album I Fought the Law
B-side	"Little Annie Lou"
Released	December 1965 (1965-12)
Genre	Garage rock[2]
Length	2:14
Label	Mustang
Songwriter(s)	Sonny Curtis
Producer(s)	Bob Keane
The Bobby Fuller Four singles chronology
"Let Her Dance" (1965) "I Fought the Law" (1965) "Love's Made a Fool of You" (1966)
Audio sample
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After enjoying regional success in Texas, Bobby Fuller and his band decided to switch to a major label—Del-Fi Records under Mustang Records—and they became known as The Bobby Fuller Four. While producing minor hits, the band broke the national top ten when they re-recorded "I Fought the Law" in 1965 with Bobby Fuller (vocals, guitar), Randy Fuller (backing vocals, bass guitar), Jim Reese (backing vocals, guitar), and DeWayne Quirico (drums).

Just six months after the song made its first appearance on the Billboard Top 100 chart, Fuller was found dead from asphyxiation in his mother's car in a parking lot near his Los Angeles apartment. The police declared the death an apparent suicide, but others believe that he was murdered.[3]

The mono and stereo mixes differ in both Fuller's vocals and the guitar riffs.[4]

"I Fought the Law"
CD edition of 1988 single release
Single by the Clash
from the EP The Cost of Living
B-side	"(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais"
Released	July 26, 1979 (1979-07-26) (US)
Genre	Punk rock
Length	2:38
Label	CBS
Songwriter(s)	Sonny Curtis
The Clash singles chronology
"English Civil War" (1979) "I Fought the Law" (1979) "Groovy Times" (1979)
The Clash reissued singles chronology
"London Calling" (1988) "I Fought the Law" (1988) "Return to Brixton" (1990)
The Cost of Living track listing
4 tracks Side one "I Fought the Law" "Groovy Times" Side two "Gates of the West" "Capital Radio"

In mid-1978, the Clash were working on their second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope. Singer Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones flew to San Francisco to record overdubs in September–October at the Automatt studio. The owner of the Automatt kept his collection of classic jukeboxes distributed around the various rooms of the studio complex. Strummer and Jones listened to the Bobby Fuller version of "I Fought the Law" for the first time on one of the jukeboxes, and by the time they returned to England, they could perform the song.[8]

Their version first appeared on the EP The Cost of Living in May 1979 in the UK and then later in 1979 was made part of the American edition of the Clash's eponymous album. This cover version helped gain the Clash their first taste of airplay in the States and is one of the best-known cover versions of the song. The live recording of the song, performed at the Lyceum Theatre, West End, London, on December 28, 1978, features as the last piece of the 1980 film Rude Boy directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay. The Clash were dressed all in black for that gig, and the song, at that stage, was considered the film's title song.[9][10][11][12] On July 26, 1979, "I Fought the Law" was the first single by the band to be released in the United States.

In 1988, CBS Records re-issued the single (catalog number) in CD, 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl formats, with "City of the Dead" (2:24) and "1977" (1:40) as its 7-inch B-side. The song is featured as a downloadable track in the music video game series Rock Band.[13]

In 1989 during Operation Just Cause, the US military surrounded the Apostolic Nunciature in Panama while trying to capture Manuel Noriega, the strongman of Panama. US forces blasted loud rock music—including "I Fought the Law" by the Clash—to put pressure on Noriega to give himself up.[14]

In 2012, the Clash's version of the song was featured in the video game Sleeping Dogs, as part of a karaoke mini-game.

The song appears during the end credits of the 2014 film RoboCop and the 2016 film War on Everyone.

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[18]	Silver	200,000
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

• Country artist Hank Williams Jr. recorded a version of the song in 1978, which was released on Family Tradition (1979). Released as the album's first single, it was a moderate hit and peaked at number 15 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, giving Williams his first Top 15 single in four years.
• Dead Kennedys adapted "I Fought the Law" shortly after San Francisco politician Dan White murdered city Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978. Most of the lyrics were re-written so the song was from White's point of view; the chorus was changed to "I fought the law, and I won", with the final line in the final chorus changed to "I am the law, so I won." The song portrays White as someone who got away with first-degree premeditated murder and is unrepentant about it and specifically cites his use of the diminished responsibility defense. It also makes use of the reference "Twinkie defense", where lead singer Jello Biafra sings "Twinkies are the best friend I ever had".[19] During Biafra's campaign for the office of Mayor of San Francisco, he proposed erecting statues of Dan White around the city and allowing the parks department to sell eggs and tomatoes with which people could pelt the statues.
• Sam Neely's version of the song went to No. 54 on the Billboard pop charts and no. 61 on the country charts in 1975. Another country version by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band went to No. 66 in 1992.[20]
• Nanci Griffith recorded the song for her 1997 album Blue Roses from the Moons.
• Green Day's version of the song was used in 2004 for a Pepsi/iTunes commercial that premiered during Super Bowl XXXVIII.[21] The single became a live favorite for the band throughout 2005, including television performances.
• "I Fought the Lloyds" was a comedy version released in 2008 by British band Oystar in support of the campaign by Lloyds TSB customers mounting legal challenges to get their charges refunded. In this version lyrics were changed; the key line became "I fought the Lloyds and Lloyds lost".[22] It reached No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart.[23]
• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have covered the song 34 times, with song first appearing in setlists during 1978's Darkness Tour and last played during the Summer '17 Tour.
• It was also covered several times by Mano Negra in their live sets, and included in their live album In the Hell of Patchinko.
• It was also covered in 1982 by Australian singer Richard Clapton on the album The Great Escape and by "all star" band The Party Boys on their album titled Greatest Hits (of Other People) with the following line up: Richard Clapton (lead vocals), Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup (drums, vocals), Kevin Borich (guitar), Paul Christie (bass, vocals) and Harvey James (guitar, vocals).
• Roy Orbison covered the song on his 1972 album Memphis.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics