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Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Nine Inch Nails

Misheard lyrics (also called mondegreens) occur when people misunderstand the lyrics in a song. These are NOT intentional rephrasing of lyrics, which is called parody. For more information about the misheard lyrics available on this site, please read our FAQ.

This page contains a list of the songs that have stories about their misheard lyrics submitted.

Song names are sorted by first letter, excluding A and The. This is sorted by song title only, not by song title and performer. So if two different performers preformed the same song, you'll see misheard lyrics for both on the same page (provided the song title was spelt the same both times, and misheard lyrics have been submitted for both!).


Broken album at Amazon.com
Nine Inch Nails', "Closer to God"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You make me high-pitched
The Real Lyrics:
You make me perfect
The Story: This always cracked me up laughing... after I found out what the real lyrics were. I always thought before that Trent Reznor was being funny, like this person was so great (or kicked him in a sensitive place?) that they made him sing high-pitched. - Submitted by: Becky Whicker
Nine Inch Nails', "Closer"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I wanna f*** you like The Alamo.
The Real Lyrics:
I wanna f*** you like an animal.
The Story: Actually, a friend of my girlfriend admitted having asked her husband to 'f*** me like The Alamo. You know, like in the song' when we were over for dinner one evening. - Submitted by: Xavier Onassis
Nine Inch Nails', "Closer"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I want to f*** you like in animé.
The Real Lyrics:
I want to f*** you like an animal.
The Story: I always thought these lyrics referred to the countless number of times that Jessie and James of Team Rocket unsuccessfully attempted to 'f*** ash like in animé' and kidnap Pikachu in the Pokémon TV show. - Submitted by: Sir Alan George Palgut I
Nine Inch Nails', "Down In It"
The Misheard Lyrics:
How is everybody? (All-right!)
The Real Lyrics:
I was up above it.
The Story: This is actually what one my friend thought he heard. The rebuttal, he thought, was a crowd saying, 'All right.' It's just that two-sylable noise at the end of the lyric. - Submitted by: Ian Mark
Nine Inch Nails', "Down In It"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I used to be so freakin' strong.
I used to know my right from wrong.
I used to never be afraid.
I used to be so funny.
The Real Lyrics:
I used to be so big and strong.
I used to know my right from wrong.
I used to never be afraid.
I used to be somebody.
The Story: Well, I misheard the song when I was a child. - Submitted by: Ramm
Nine Inch Nails', "Down In It"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I was on the Muppets.
The Real Lyrics:
I was up above it.
The Story: I heard this song first in a Ford Explorer full of shouting people. When that particular lyric played, I tapped my friend Missy on the shoulder and asked 'Did he just say he was on the Muppets?' They haven't let me forget that. - Submitted by: LadyGaladriel
Nine Inch Nails', "Down In It"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I was up a bullet.
The Real Lyrics:
I was up above it.
The Story: This was misheard by a dear friend of mine who has now passed on. She was beloved by my group of friends for her flighty tendancies and I just had to share this. - Submitted by: Patrick
Nine Inch Nails', "Down In It"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I'm an epiglottis.
The Real Lyrics:
I was up above it.
The Story: I was playing this song at work, when one of my co-workers asked me what Trent Reznor sang during the chorus. When I told her, there was a bit of stunned silence. She then said, 'I always thought it was 'I'm an epiglottis.' This is funnier when you read the definition of 'epiglottis': The thin elastic cartilaginous structure located at the root of the tongue that folds over the glottis to prevent food and liquid from entering the trachea during the act of swallowing. - Submitted by: Brian
Nine Inch Nails', "Happiness In Slavery"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Taste's Great!
The Real Lyrics:
Slave Screams
The Story: Advertisement for Miller Lite? - Submitted by: mgbmusic
Nine Inch Nails', "Head Like A Hole"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Head like a hole
Black azure soul.
The Real Lyrics:
Head like a hole
Black as your soul.
The Story: Azure is a shade of blue, so I thought that this was Trent Reznor's clever way of saying his soul was black and blue. - Submitted by: Melissa
Nine Inch Nails', "Hurt"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Now what have I done
My Swedish friend?
The Real Lyrics:
What have I become
My sweetest friend?
The Story: When I first heard this, I misinterpreted the lyric as that. It prompted me to ask a friend of mine who Trent Reznor knew from Sweden that he would mention in his song. For some reason I didn't even bother to look at the lyrics in the liner notes. - Submitted by: Guy
Nine Inch Nails', "Meet Your Master"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Calm Down Julien, it'll make it go faster
The Real Lyrics:
Count down to the end, gotta make it come faster.
The Story: I heard it as this, then without telling anyone else, my friends said they did too. We made shirts that said Calm Down Julien and wore them to a NIN show and other fans understood! - Submitted by: AOK
Nine Inch Nails', "Only"
The Misheard Lyrics:
At The Works
Yes, it is.
or
On the words
Yes, I did!
The Real Lyrics:
And it worked
Yes, it did!
The Story: I believed Trent was always referring to Crovan's Gate (The Works) when I heard this part. - Submitted by: Alan The Ottoman
Nine Inch Nails', "Only"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I just beat you up to hurt myself.
The Real Lyrics:
I just made you up to hurt myself.
The Story: I listened to this song for the first time, and I thought it said 'beat you up.' I thought to myself, 'What a hypocrite!' I wanted to submit the lyrics to the 'insincere lyrics' section. Then I listened to the rest of the song. - Submitted by: Yet Another Dutchman
Nine Inch Nails', "Only"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I just beat you up to hurt myself.
The Real Lyrics:
I just made you up to hurt myself.
The Story: When I first saw the video, I thought "Wow, that's kind of odd. If you beat someone else up, how would that hurt you? It might hurt you emotionally, but the way I did it it was more physical." So I decided to look it up, and man, I felt stupid. - Submitted by: Jimmy Pop
Nine Inch Nails', "Ruiner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And what you gave to me
My perfect little stars.
The Real Lyrics:
And what you gave to me
My perfect ring of scars.
The Story: I was sitting in my car, when all of sudden my cousin calls and asks for a ride to school. I go pick him up, then he puts a CD in my car player and 'Ruiner' comes on. So afterwards, he left it in my car. I start listening to it.I thought I knew all the words perfectly...until I sang it in front of my friend, Katie, who told me the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Ginni N.
Nine Inch Nails', "Where Is Everybody?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Everything's speeding up
Or muscling down.
The Real Lyrics:
Everything's speeding up
Or am I slowing down?
The Story: Yes, I have read the lyric booklet many times. I am aware that it's 'or am I slowing down', which makes perfect sense in the song. But whenever I hear the song, it sounds like 'muscling down' to me. Not that it makes any sense (there's no such verb 'to muscle down'), but it sounds funny still, especially since Trent is quite buff and in no way 'muscled down'. - Submitted by: fiona

There are more Nine Inch Nails misheard lyrics available.

Indexes: [#] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z]

New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.

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