You used to see him down Leicester Square,
With a mixed-up suit and filthy hair.
He played harmonica in limbo,
For his tea and fare
He drank too much, but, I couldn't care
Chorus:
Johnny Reggae he could not see (x3)
But it never stopped him
Smiling at me.
He wore a badge from a paradise isle,
He grinned a lot, he had a toothless smile.
He broke no laws,
Or appeared on no files,
And spent his night upon the pavement tiles.
Chorus
They say it started with some rookie police,
When a lucky right hand knocked one off his feet.
They dragged him, legless, to the soundproof cell,
Where no-one but the dead could hear you yell,
And they gave what they give to the troublesome
niggers.
Now, I hope one night, when there is me and thee,
That we are behind those men in a blind alley.
In the blackened night their eyes don't see,
Who dealt a dose of brutality.
Chorus:
For, Johnny Reggae he could not see (x3)
But that never stopped their brutality.