Karma police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio

Karma police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party

This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us

Karma police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll

This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us

For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself

For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself


Lyrics submitted by dissolution619

Karma Police Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Music India Private Limited, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Karma Police (Early version) song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    i tend to enjoy this version of the song a lot more than the cd version... the lyrics are better and the way thom sings does a lot more justice to what the song may be about... afterall.. the cd version is MUCH more of a "stale-format, fridge-buzz"

    dissolution619on July 25, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree. the higher singing is good. and i just love the line "she stares at me as if she owns the world". can't see why they changed it. ah, well.

    greenplasticon March 19, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "she stares at me"... it is a much better line, as it seems more plausible that the person should resent her, as opposed to having a certain type of haircut?

    colabottleon June 20, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song means that wot goes around comes around and if you cause bad karma then ur gonna get it bad.

    this is what youll get when you mess with me...

    Obviously means.. don't mess with us cause will mess with you back. The police reference is that the person is hoping that the people who annoy him willbe arrested and this is the way in which he'll mess with them.

    Splaire89on November 12, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I am just starting to get into music and i must admit that at first i didnt like this song mainly because because i didnt get it but now i have sum idea. tho i am not completely satisfied with your intpretations because most of u just focused on like a few lines of the song and expected that to cover the entire song...most of u left out the payroll meaning also and that seems to me to be the final key in figuring out the song... I also hold the belief that the song's meaning is not that deep and that the lyrics are just really vague...it started as a joke remember? w/e i guess thats y so many like this song: b/c they can adapt it to anything they want. also i think many of the people above are borderline geniuses because we have to find the deeper meaning thing for "classic"novels in English and i sux ass but u guys seem to make it fit well, if not perfectly, and should think about applying that elsewhere... As i final note i would like to say something my english teacher told me: "Classic novels are classics because they are too deep to know themselves" which basically means that they can be applied in ways never thought of by the author...i think that is prolly the same for this song

    JustinCredibleon January 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    hey i tink the karma police reference is about him wishing there was police and courts to deal with karma and feeling.because sometimes feeling cant hurt people as much as or more dan real crimes and the that the person should be held responible

    ps. does any1 no where i could get a copy of the early version i have heard it i jst dnt hav a copy thanks

    paul84on January 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    the reference in the earlt version "she stares at me as if she owns the world" is way better dan her hitler hair do is makin me feel ill and i dnt tink it ever should hav been changed.wat i get from this is dat thats the girl who has caused him this pain and he feels like she tinks she can do what she likes to people. and then the line "for a moment i lost myself" line would be about how he relises that this will never happen in this world and that no1 will be held responible for hurting sum1 in a relationship and what was he even thinking about it for

    paul84on January 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I say it has a lot to do with politics. Hitler hair do/ crashed her party could mean the joint coalitions victory over the nazis. Good destroying the evil. But towars the end he say's i lost my self/we're still on a payrole could mean that we are still vulnarable to another great war or something like that.

    And the video kind of shows how Thom goes after a bad guy (I think) and finally when he corners the bad guy (Evil) the chase turns the otherway. I think what he's trying to say is, eventhough you give it your best to erradicate evil from the world it just keeps coming back to destroy us.

    And no, i'm not stoned.

    Chesteron January 27, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think "her hitler hairdo is making me feel ill" is a better line than "she stares at me as if she owns the world" beause it's a more poetic way (I don't know...) to deliver the same message.

    unlikely resultson January 13, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    hey- isn't it when you mess with us and then for the next one when you mess with love? who knows..

    Sarahluvsu182on February 02, 2006   Link

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