I've been a bad bad girl
I've been careless with my delicate man
And its a sad sad world
When a girl will break a boy
Just because she can

Don't you tell me to deny it
I've done wrong and I want to
Suffer for my sins
I've come to you 'cause I need
Guidance to be true
And I just don't know where I can begin

What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
And I need to redeemed
To the one I've sinned against
Because he's all I ever knew of love

Heaven help me for the way I am
Save me from these evil deeds before I get them done
I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand
But I keep livin' this day like
The next will never come

Oh help me but don't tell me
To deny it
I've got to cleanse myself
Of all these lies till I'm good enough for him
I've got a lot to lose and I'm bettin' high
So I'm beggin' you before it ends
Just tell me where to begin

What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
And I need to redeemed
To the one I've sinned against
Because he's all I ever knew of love

Let me know the way
Before there's hell to pay
Give me room to lay the law and let me go
I've got to make a play
To make my lover stay
So what would an angel say
The devil wants to know

What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
And I need to redeemed
To the one I've sinned against
Because he's all I ever knew of love

What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal
And I need to redeemed
To the one I've sinned against
Because he's all I ever knew of love


Lyrics submitted by SNYder, edited by InfinitStar

Criminal song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    this song is NOT about being raped. Yea she was raped, so the fuck what, that doesn't mean you have to look for it as a subject where it's not.

    This is what she said the song was about in a 1997 interview with Tracey Pepper:

    FA: When [video director] Mark Romanek showed me his treatment, I called Andy [Slater, Apple's manager] and said, "This is Fiona taking off her clothes in the kitchen; Fiona lying by the pool naked; Fiona in underwear, naked." Then I called Mark and we talked about his idea that the song is about guilty pleasures and sexual deviance - me being in this house full of people, going around and experimenting, feeling a little bad about it, but enjoying it all the same. It corresponded with my meaning of the song.

    JBIIIon February 05, 2007   Link

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