From the recording The Noir Album
"All Bad" is inspired by dialogue from the 1947 noir classic Out Of The Past, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Mitchum's character, Jeff Bailey, is speaking with his love interest, Ann Miller, as played by Virgina Huston. In the finale of the film he's about to go meet with the film's femme fatale (Jane Greer's Kathie Moffat) whom Ann attempts to partially redeem by saying, "She can't be all bad, no one is." His response? "Well, she comes the closest."
Lyrics
All Bad
Somebody must have dropped you on your heart
when you were just a baby
And no one’s left but me to testify that you’re evil
and you’re crazy
Oh the life of the party,
scandalous and shameless
Bulling your way through china shops
eternally blameless
A victim crying near a smoking gun
And somehow always the innocent one…
Maybe your mama didn’t love her little girl
or your daddy was too young
But excuses never really justify
what you do for your fun
Oh I’ve seen you laugh at pain
as long as it ain’t yours
“She can’t be all bad” they say
but they don’t know the score
Take it from someone who knows her best
When it comes to being all bad
she comes the closest, she comes the closest
All Bad, yeah that woman is all bad
You know she can’t tell the truth to save her life
But she’ll lie to take yours and she’ll be glad
Like staring at the ceiling
while the walls are closing in
Those big blue eyes so innocent
while she pours a Mickey Finn
The blood is on her hands
but you’re paying for her sins
I said that girl…that girl…is all bad