Don't Charge Me For The Crime
by Jonas Brothers (featuring Common)

Album: Lines, Vines and Trying Times (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • The brothers explained to the Australian radio program The Hot Hits that this song, "is a story about getting roped into situations beyond your control. A friend calls you needing a ride and unbeknownst to you, he's just robbed a bank. Being the good friend that you are, you pick him up and involve yourself beyond your control. This all leads up to you wanting to do the right thing, but even more so, wanting to help those around you into doing the right thing."
  • Asked during a 2016 Reddit AMA what his least favorite Jonas Bros song is, Joe Jonas cited this one. He explained:

    "We wrote a song once called Don't Charge Me For The Crime, which was like the weirdest story song we ever came up with about being the getaway driver for a bank robbery. Maybe it was a little ahead of it's time, being 16 year-old Disney kids, it's probably not the best song to be singing.

    And we got the opportunity to work with Common and he was totally into it. So, Common actually raps on the song. I don't know how we got away with this being on an album, especially working with Disney for so many years, but it's out there.

    I'd say it's probably my favorite and least favorite song, in the same right, because it's kind of fun to listen to now, but I'm like, how the hell did we get away with this?"

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