 Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna felt that the lyrics, along with being an answer-song, could also be interpreted as a rebellious one, where Madonna looks back on a relationship where she was not allowed to speak her mind. The song's lyrics contain sarcastic backing vocals with Madonna asking rhetorical questions based on her real-life actions, such as "Did I say something wrong? Oops, I didn't know I couldn 't talk about sex. I must have been crazy," as well as the line "What was I thinking?" Madonna explained that the lyrics were about "about basically saying don't put me in a box, don 't pin me down, don't tell me what I can and can 't say. It's about breaking out of the restraints." With the Los Angeles Times she further clarified that there was a defensiveness with the lyrics for "Human Nature":
