Sonny Curtis of The Crickets (Sonny, Jerry Allison, Glen Hardin and Joe Mauldin) composed "I Fought the Law". Originally the group were backing Buddy Holly instrumentally while "The Picks" (John and Bill Pickering, Bob Lapham) provided the vocal background. When Buddy moved to New York the trio added Sonny Curtis as lead guitar and vocalist. "I Fought the Law" was introduced on their first album without Buddy Holly, "In Style With The Crickets".

This is the Bobby Fuller Four demo of "I Fought The Law" containing a great drum intro and the phrase "robbin' people with a shotgun".

The Bobby Fuller Four (Bobby and Randy Fuller, Jim Reese and Dalton Powell) recorded and reached the top ten in 1966 with their cover of "I Fought the Law". Bobby Fuller died under suspicious circumstances at the age of 23. Bobby's brother Randy co-authored "I Fought The Law" and much like the Tommy James book there seem to be a lot of the same gangster connections.