Released: September 27, 1993
Songwriter: Chris Lowe Neil Tennant
Producer: Pet Shop Boys
[Verse 1]
You may be broke now, and you may be bored
Call you delinquent or leave you ignored
You'll get what you want
Drive to distraction, crash on the way
Watch your reaction, wait 'til you say
You'll get what you want
It hurts if you can't
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, why the pretence?
You don't agree, I know, I know
[Verse 2]
I'll do what you want if you want me enough
I'll put down my book and start falling in love
Or isn't that done?
How graceful your movements, how bitter your scorn
I've been a teenager since before you were born
And I'm younger than some
I've only begun
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
When I get in your way, or open your eyes?
Who will give whom the bigger surprise?
[Verse 3]
Is that fire in your eyes, or the glow of machines?
Watch how your fingers burn over the keys
So sure what you do
I haven't a clue
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, how you resent
The lovers you need, it hurts when they bleed
Young offender, why the pretence?
You don't agree, I know, I know
You may be broke now, and you may be bored
Call you delinquent or leave you ignored
You'll get what you want
Drive to distraction, crash on the way
Watch your reaction, wait 'til you say
You'll get what you want
It hurts if you can't
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, why the pretence?
You don't agree, I know, I know
[Verse 2]
I'll do what you want if you want me enough
I'll put down my book and start falling in love
Or isn't that done?
How graceful your movements, how bitter your scorn
I've been a teenager since before you were born
And I'm younger than some
I've only begun
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
When I get in your way, or open your eyes?
Who will give whom the bigger surprise?
[Verse 3]
Is that fire in your eyes, or the glow of machines?
Watch how your fingers burn over the keys
So sure what you do
I haven't a clue
[Chorus]
Young offender, what's your defence?
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, how you resent
The lovers you need, it hurts when they bleed
Young offender, why the pretence?
You don't agree, I know, I know
more tracks from the album
Very: Further Listening 1992 – 1994
- Go West
- Shameless
- Liberation
- Some Speculation
- Yesterday, When I Was Mad
- One in a Million
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Girls & Boys (Live in Rio)
- I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing [7" Version]
- Confidential (Demo for Tina)
- Falling (Demo for Kylie)
- Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Single Version)
- Go West [12" Version]
- Euroboy
- Can You Forgive Her?
- I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing
- The Theatre
- Decadence
- Young Offender
- If Love Were All (Bitter Sweet)
- To Speak Is a Sin
- A Different Point of View
- Forever in Love
- Violence (Haçienda Version)
- Too Many People
- One and One Make Five
- Dreaming of the Queen
- Hey, Headmaster
- Postscript (I Believe in Ecstasy)
From the albums
- Very (1993)
- Very: Further Listening 1992 – 1994 (2001)
Pet Shop Boys popular songs
- West End Girls
- It’s a Sin
- Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
- Go West
- Always On My Mind
- Being Boring
- Suburbia
- What Have I Done to Deserve This?
- Domino Dancing
- The Pop Kids
- Left to My Own Devices
- Rent
- New York City Boy
- Love etc.
- Love is a Bourgeois Construct
- Burning the heather
- Dreamland
- Closer to Heaven 3
- Footsteps
- Closer To Heaven / Left To My Own Devices
- Je T’aime Moi Non Plus
- Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Coconut 1 12" Mix) [Disco 2 Version]
- In His Imagination
- Sail Away