What does Smooth Criminal mean?

Michael Jackson: Smooth Criminal Meaning

Album cover for Smooth Criminal album cover

Song Released: 1988


Covered By: Alien Ant Farm (2001)


Smooth Criminal Lyrics

Smooth Criminal lyrics
As He Came Into The Window
It Was The Sound Of A
Crescendo
He Came Into Her Apartment
He Left The Bloodstains On
The Carpet
She Ran Underneath The Table
He Could See She Was Unable
So She Ran Into The Bedroom
She...

  1. anonymous
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    Mar 8th 2011 !⃝

    i think the song is about a guy taking a girls virginity.. and the guy told the girl that he was gonna be with her forever but he just got what he wanted and left. he was a "smooth criminal".

  2. anonymous
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    Jul 4th 2010 !⃝

    The smooth criminal is a guy who either breaks into a girl's apartment and rapes or kills or is probably about a abusive relationship of some sort.

  3. aquamaddie
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    Apr 26th 2010 !⃝

    I think this song is relatively simple. It's just describing a murder in full detail. I don't think there's really a deep underlying meaning.

  4. anonymous
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    Mar 22nd 2010 !⃝

    I think this song as a sexual crime bearing committed. Annie in the song seems like some kind of performer and MJ was her guardian or other... "bloodstains on the carpet" could mean that the hitman/rapist has already claimed another victim before Annie or killed someone in his way of getting close to her. "Underneath the table" She knew he was coming for her and like a dumb*** hid under a table....."Struck down" as in raped and robbed of her virginity. The continuous "Annie are you Ok" is Mj trying to comfort her over the phone during one of his mob meetings.


    If you do in fact watch the full song from the Moonwalker movie, you will notice missing lyrics in the radio edit.

    So they came into the outway
    It was Sunday - what a black day
    EVERYTIME I TRY TO FIND HIM
    HE'S LEAVING NO CLUES LEFT BEHIND HIM
    AND THEY HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING
    OF THE SUSPECT OR WHAT TO EXPECT
    Mouth to mouth resuscitation
    Sounding heartbeats - intimidations



    So...in my conclusion for the movie and radio, MJ is an somewhat abusive gangster with a fiancee/protectee named Annie. On a sunday night, an opposing hitman raped her and left evidence to frame MJ as her rapist (The reason why the cops were on his tail). MJ was on a personal vendetta to find her rapist and take him down himself before the police do. (In relation to the omitted movie lyrics, MJ seems to know who the hitman is). As a sign of hopelessness, MJ takes refuge in a mob bar seeking info of the Smooth Criminal (in song) o.O

    Shocking isn't it?

  5. anonymous
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    Aug 20th 2009 !⃝

    I believe this song is about a girl being raped/ attacked by a handsome stranger, maybe a man who tried to get her to like him but she wouldnt give in so he comes into her apartment. She then gets beat up quite badly so people have to try and save her life. Michael in the video/song is someone who is concerned about her safety and knows the person who attacked her.

  6. MJFanForLife
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    Aug 2nd 2009 !⃝

    Smooth Criminal is actually about a hitman, hence the lyrics ' You've been hit by, you've been hit by, a smooth criminal'.

  7. MJFanForLife
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    Aug 1st 2009 !⃝

    Actually, this song is about a hit man, hence the lyrics 'You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal'

  8. Starr.Hunn
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    Jul 26th 2009 !⃝

    Smooth criminal is about Jackson. Striking a man for kidnapping a little girl. In the video you will see that the little girl Annie is kidnapped at the end of the video. So basically, Michael Jackson is upset that She was kidnapped. So he goes to the club and tries to find the guy.

  9. anonymous
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    Jun 27th 2009 !⃝

    This song is about a woman named Annie who hears a loud noise when a burglar enters her home through her apartment window. As he enters he cuts himself on the glass and his blood stains her carpet. When she hears the noise she runs into the bedroom to she what the noise was only to be knocked unconscious by the burglar. Soon after somebody(I will venture a guess at her husband or boyfriend) finds them and scares the burglar away. This person the proceeds to wake Annie and tell her what happened after asking if she is ok.

  10. anonymous
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    May 6th 2007 !⃝

    I think it's about a break up, but they ended it on good terms. no suicide.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. nefarious_gabber
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    Sep 27th 2006 !⃝

    It is a remake of a michel jackson song
    they redid it by accident
    they started playing a few seconds of it at a concert
    and everyone started screaming for more of it
    so that night they went home and re did the song
    they as far as I know didn't even want this song to be that big but hey mtv made it big

  12. anonymous
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    Sep 5th 2006 !⃝

    I would guess that this is about any musician/star who is idolized and worshipped during life and who is immortalized by taking his/her own life (whether it be suicide, overdose, accident, etc.) during their prime.

    To anyone as vain and self-absorbed as davey, this might seem like a more attractive option than to keep going until you get old and scraggly, while your talents fizzle out and everyone forgets (or just stops caring)about you. There are plenty of bands out there like that, like the rolling stones, pearl jam or even elvis, to name a few. On the flipside, Kurt Cobain died in his prime, leaving behind a legacy of revolutionary music and memories of a beautiful, yet pained, soul.

    Don't connect the video too much to the song. Remember that videos are more tied to the interpretation of the video producer than to that of the song-writer. I think that the video represents nothing more than idolotry and the idea of death. If you are trying to link the video specifically to hitler or the song to jesus, you are putting too much of your own personal spin on it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Sep 4th 2006 !⃝

    This is just a remake of the Michael Jackson song called smooth criminal. Same lyrics. I just don't know why they did it.

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