text: Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late last month
  Ralph went out looking for a job but, Lord, he couldnt find none
  He came home too drunk from mixing Tanqueray and wine
  He got a gun and shot a night clerk, now they call him Johnny 99
  Down in the part of town when you hit a red light and dont stop
  Johnnys waving his gun and threatening to blow his top
  When an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behind
  Out in front of the club Tip Top, they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
  The city supplied a public defender, but the judge was mean John Brown
  When he came into the courtroom and he stared young Johnny down
  Well, the evidence is clear, gonna let the sentence fit the crime
  Prison for 98 and a year, well call it even, Johnny 99
  Well, a fist fight broke out in the courtroom, they had to drag Johnnys girl away
  His mama stood up and shouted, Judge, dont take my boy this way
  Well, son, you got a statement that youd like to make
  Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away?
  Now judge, oh judge, I got debts no honest man can pay
  The bank was holding my mortgage, they was taking my house away
  Now, I aint saying that make me no innocent man
  God knows it was more than all this that put that gun in my hand
  Well, Your Honor, I do believe Id be better off dead
  And if you can take a mans life for the thoughts running through his head
  Then wont you sit back in that chair and think it over, judge, one more time
  And let them shave off my hair and put me on the execution line