[Repeat x2]
(Malevolent criminal eye)
(Motivation paints my mind)
(Cross the invisible line)
(And you'll be paid in kind)

Get it!

Criminal
The suffering
It makes me think like a
Criminal
The suffering
When we're alone
Criminal
The suffering
It makes me feel like a
Criminal
The suffering
When we're alone

Typical enough for me
And burn inside in agony
What power will enable me
To bury my vision

A hunger coming over me
As I learn to hide the agony
To make a final remedy
To close the door once and for all

[Chorus]
In a world that I don't want to know
With a message that I never want to send
To be free from all of this
I want you to quicken my end
Don't tell me I can not go
When the wound in me refuses to mend
Deliver me from all of this
I want you to quicken my end

(It seems the whole experience is)
Terrible and crippling
The pain is much more then
Physical beyond belief
When we're alone

Typical enough for me
And I burn inside in agony
What power will enable me
To make this decision

Despair is falling over me
No way to hide the agony
Embracing my calamity
To save myself once and for all

[Chorus]

Now you want to know
You want a name
You want to call me motherfucker
Now you want to know
You want a name
You want to say it doesn't matter

Now you want to know
You want a name
You want to call me motherfucker
Now you want to know
You want a name
You want to say it doesn't matter now

Now that you wanna know
Now you wanna name
Now you wanna place
Now you wanna time
Now you want it all

Now that you wanna know
Now you wanna name
Now you wanna place
Now you wanna time
Now you want it all
Now

[Chorus]

Don't say that it isn't so
I'm on a path that you'll never comprehend
Set me free from all of this
I need you to quicken my end



Lyrics submitted by ab0ve

Track duration: 04:16

"Criminal" as written by David/donegan Draiman

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Criminal song meanings
Add your thoughts

45 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I started the Book of Tobit recently, and guess what? It can be just as analogous (if not more so) as the Book of Job!

    (POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ IT YET)

    Tobit and Sarah (?) ask God to quicken their end so that they can be free from their suffering of a world they don't want to know.

    You know, since David Draiman is a religious Jew and occasionally (if not usually if not always) writes the songs himself, this may not be a coincidence.
    Flag Snyarhediron May 01, 2013   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:This song is about "A vicious and tormenting past that a person can carry, but knowing that he/she must live with it forever.Have you ever been in a relationship that drives you to wanting to commit a crime? It just pulls the worst out of you.It's so intense and you can't really free yourself from it and it makes you do things you shouldn't want to do, to the extent of bringing on your own life's end just to be out of it."
    Flagged FloridaGuyon October 05, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I believe this song is about a kid being bullied in school

    "Malevolent criminal eye
    When the vision paints my mind
    Cross the invisible line
    And you'll be paid in kind"

    is someone crossing the line with there jokes but the victim will still be nice because that is who they are

    "Criminal
    The suffering
    It makes me think like a
    Criminal
    The suffering
    When we're alone"

    this is how the victim feels about the words the bully says, and it makes him feel bad, or "like a criminal."

    "Typical enough for me
    That I burn inside in agony
    What power will enable me
    To bury my vision"

    This says how the victim has been bullied his whole life and that he feels horrible because of it, and he needs help so he can overcome it.

    "The hunger coming over me
    As I learn to hide the agony
    To make a final remedy
    To close the door once and for all"

    This tells how the victim is mentally breaking down from the bullying and how he is just shoving his emotions down.

    "In a world that I don't want to know
    With a message that I never want to send
    To be free from all of this
    I want you to quicken my end
    Don't tell me I can not go
    With a wound that refuses to mend
    Deliver me from all of this
    I want you to quicken my end"

    This shows how the victim becomes anti-social and secluded because of the bullying and actually wants to kill him/herself because the pain of it wont go away.

    "Now you want to know
    You want a name
    You want to call me motherfucker
    Now you want to know
    You want a name
    You want to say it doesn't matter"

    This talks about how the bully wants to call the victim hurtful names and get away with it

    Thats what this song made me think of.
    Flag online20200on September 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I have just finished reading the Book of Job, and I can honestly say that there are few words in the lyrics that do not appear to refer almost directly to the first thirty-one sections. (I first started reading the Bible cover-to-cover about five years ago, give or take.) I had first heard the story of Job through a song that used to be sung at my church or at least is on a church-related cassette. I trust most Jews and Christians need no background on this story. For those that have not read it or have forgotten, and anyone who practices any other religion, I recommend looking up the story in a copy of the Torah or Bible (and no, it is not a sin to read anything from the holy book of another religion). What you read will likely alarm you, at least with the striking similarity.

    Job has done nothing to deserve the suffering that God has allowed to strike him. He at first thinks that he must have done something at some time to deserve it, but cannot think of what. Therefore, the suffering makes him think like a criminal. His friends support the notion that he is a sinner and repeatedly try to tell him that he is, even though he has done nothing to deserve this disaster, and other people who used to respect him and their children now mock him, so the suffering makes him feel like a criminal, and his friends essentially want to call him a "motherfucker".

    Job burns inside with agony, and his pain is much more than physical, and others are unable to understand exactly how he feels. The world that he wants not to know is the world of pain that he has come to know anyway, and the message that he never wants to send is to curse God, which would result in his death, but although he wants to die, he has no desire to commit blasphemy to that end despite the fact that he blames God for his troubles. He embraces his calamity by accepting his punishment, but that does not make it less bearable.
    Flag Snyarhediron March 17, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:Please guys, this song doesn't talk about love... Here is my interpretation:
    This song, for me, talk about euthanasia, lets see.

    "Criminal
    This suffering
    It makes me think like a
    Criminal
    The suffering
    When we're alone" -> the suffering of a dying person, gives him the desire to kill, specially when they're alone.

    "typical enough for me
    And I burn inside in agony
    What power will enable me?
    To carry my mission " -> the guy is in extreme pain and agony and wonders when people will leave him to decide his destiny.

    The Chorus is obiously him asking to be killed.

    "Don's say that it isn't so
    I'm on a path that you'll never comprehend" -> the path that no one comprehends is the path of endless pain and death, which only the people who are about to die, or suffering from the incredible pain knows how it feels like.
    Flag GomaXon March 13, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:After watching certain episodes of Medium, CSI and either Criminal Minds or Law & Order (I forget which) that dealt with (often wrongly) registered sex offenders and hearing about the mark on Michael Vick's (spelling?) permanent record, I have developed a new interpretation of these lyrics. Michael Vick once said on the radio that he served his time for dogfighting, but now that he has been punished and reformed, he still has to pay for it socially because--as I understand it--dogfighting is a felony, so others are allowed to continue to treat him like a criminal. Furthermore, convicted sex offenders stay on a register for life (as I understand), and even those who strictly obey the terms of their parole/probation may be given Hell by the community. Worse still, some people are registered as sex offenders for no such crime, whether they are framed or the someone in charge overreacts or is pressured by overreacting citizens. In the Criminal Minds/Law & Order episode, one wrongly-registered sex offender was mentally retarded and got busted for urinating behind a tree/bush! My point is that many of these people are likely to wish that they would just die, because who wants to live with that hate, of an entire world turned against you for what ultimately become trivial reasons.
    Flag Snyarhediron March 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Too many people keep assuming that this song is about the singer or the singer portraying the role of a fictitious character, while forgetting about everyone else in the band whose story could also be told by the music, or better yet, that most of their music is most likely not even about them. Apart from Down With The Sickness and Inside The Fire, I cannot see any real connection between their songs and their lives (excepting the songs from Asylum, which I do not currently read or listen to with the exception of their U2 cover).
    Flag Snyarhediron December 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is just badass, and the meaning is, basically, right there. That makes it more badass.
    Flag Ashken18on July 24, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song is about becoming a criminal in the mist of all the suffering your being put through alone. The "hunger" and unending wanting of something more, and wanting to "quicken your end" to get away from the suffering as its changing you.

    Flag DishonoredUnknownon June 17, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:This song is 1 of my favs its pretty ba
    Flag JeseniaLover69on June 04, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain