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Single cover of the Bobby Fuller version of I Fought the Law

"I Fought the Law" is a much-covered song originally recorded by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets. The song is more identified in the eyes (and ears) of many music fans with the Bobby Fuller Four, who recorded a more successful version of the song in 1965, The Clash, who recorded a punk rock version in 1978, and Green Day, who recorded and released it as a single in early 2004.

Just as the song became a top ten hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in a parked automobile near his Los Angeles home. The police considered the death an apparent suicide; however, many people still believe Fuller was murdered.

It was the existence of a 45 of the Bobby Fuller version in a studio jukebox that inspired The Clash to record a cover version of the song in 1978. Their version first appeared on the EP Cost of Living in May 1979 in England, 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 probably the best-known cover version of the song, not counting Fuller's.

The song has also been performed, either in concert or on record, by Bryan Adams, The Ramones, John Cougar Mellencamp, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Social Distortion, Mike Ness, Hank Williams Jr, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Green Day, Grateful Dead, Stray Cats, Mary's Danish, Mano Negra, the Big Dirty Band, Nonstop Body/Lolita No. 18, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Attaque 77, Die Toten Hosen, and numerous other artists. For the 2003 film, Intermission, Colin Farrell recorded a version of the song, singing it in the guise of his character in the film.

The Dead Kennedys, in particular, wrote and recorded a different version as a comment on Dan White's 1978 murder of San Francisco mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, and White's subsequent use of the "Twinkie defense" to influence the court to convict him of the lesser charge of manslaughter. The song, sung from the perspective of White and replacing the line "I fought the law and the law won" with "I fought the law and I won," contains the following lines:

The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends,

That's how this country's run,

Twinkies are the best friend I've ever had,

I fought the law and I won!

I fought the law and I won!

I blew George and Harvey's brains out with my six-gun

I fought the law and I won...

In 1989, when the U.S. Marines had Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega confined to a a church and were attempting to flush him out, one psychological tactic they used was to play "I Fought the Law" loudly and repeatedly from loudspeakers. When presidential press secretary Marlin Fitzwater was asked about the appropriateness of this at a press conference, he replied to the effect that it was a refreshing illustration of Americans' sense of humor.^{[citation needed]}

The Bobby Fuller Four version of this song is ranked #175 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1988 Clash EP

• The opening instrumental of The Clash's version was used as the theme tune of The Dunphy Show.
• In the game True Crime: Streets of LA, the main character, Nick, has a quote that can be heard, when he arrests or defeats an enemy, he will sing: 'You fought the law and the law won.'
• In the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run, one of Bart's various quotes throughout the game is, "I fought the law and I won."
• In the last episode of the canceled Dark Angel series, the character called Alec quotes "I fought the law and the law won."
• In the game Bully (also known as Canis Canem Edit), the prefects will occasionally say "You fought the law and the law won".
• The song is found on the soundtrack of the PC game Battlefield: Vietnam.
• The second season Crime Story episode "Pauli Taglia's Dream" features Bobby Fuller's version of the song. In several parts of the titular dream, Pauli Taglia lip-synchs to the song.
• The song was prominently featured in an episode of Cheers.
• Seattle DJ Bob Rivers parodied the song as "I Fought the Lawn."
• When CNN announced in 2005 that they were canceling the show Crossfire for reasons similar to those expressed by Jon Stewart when he appeared on the show, Stewart said soon after on The Daily Show, "I fought the law, and the law lost!"
• In the Metric song Monster Hospital, there's a play on the line 'I fought the law and the law won' - instead, lead singer Emily Haines sings 'I fought the war and the war won'.