Songfacts®:

• This speedy ska number was inspired by frontman Ian Watkins and his bandmates' memories of growing up in Wales and finding themselves on the wrong side of the law. "Oh yes, there was trouble with the cops," Watkins recalled to The Daily Mirror January 22, 2010: "It was normal for kids from a working class town. [Guitarist] Lee was from the 'ghetto'. Where he lived was the council estate part of town - a bit like Shameless. We couldn't afford much so we would go out and nick stuff. I don't want to condone it and you look back now and think it was pretty wild, but it was just a way of life, a part of the culture. Nicking from shops was second nature."
• This was penned by the band between tour dates in 2006 and 2007 and debuted live in 2007.
• The punning song title is a play-on-words on the traditional tune, "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow."
• "For He's a Jolly Good Felon" was written years before Ian Watkins' criminal convictions came to light. The title now carries an unintended dark irony, as Watkins was later imprisoned for serious sexual offenses. Following his arrest and conviction in 2013, the song, and much of the Lostprophets catalog, became difficult for many fans to revisit, and the remaining members formed a new band called No Devotion.
  
  Watkins died after being attacked by two inmates at HM Prison Wakefield on October 11, 2025.