[4Runner]

Those must have been the original lyrics. So in 1957 they were unacceptable but in 1960 they were? Huh. Precursor to Bob Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff”.

[Fiji Hill]

"I Shot Mr. Lee" was one of a number of popular songs featuring violence that came out as the fifties morphed into the sixties. These included El Paso by Marty Robins, Springtime in Alaska by Johnny Horton, The Long Black Veil by Lefty Frizzell, and One of Us (Will Weep Tonight) by Patti Page. This trend prompted Bob Luman to cut a protest song against "the whining and the crying and the shooting and the dying" in popular songs--and it was a hit.