Key Takeaways
- Lyric Confusion: Many fans have misheard the lyrics to “Welcome to the Jungle.”
- Correct Lyrics: The actual lyrics during the bridge are “Suck down” instead of “So down.”
- Teleprompter Evidence: A photo of the teleprompter confirms the correct lyrics.
- Album Mistake: Even the original album’s lyrics are incorrect.
Have you been singing the wrong lyrics to Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” all this time?
A fan uploaded a screenshot of a photo on the Guns N’ Roses Reddit page that shows Slash standing on top of a teleprompter onstage during a GN’R show. The screenshot was taken from Slash’s girlfriend Meegan Hodges’ Instagram story, which she shared while the band was playing “Welcome to the Jungle.”
During the bridge, there are a few lines where Axl Rose sings, “And when you’re high you never / Ever wanna come down.” Dozens of online lyric websites have the next lines listed as, “So down / So down / So down / Yeah!,” but according to the photo of the teleprompter, that would be incorrect.
The words are actually: “Suck down / Suck down / Suck down / Yeah!.” Genius is the only site we checked that had it right.
See the proof below.
“For the longest time, I (and probably lots of people in the GN’R fan base) thought the lyric during the bridge of WTTJ goes, ‘And when you’re high, you never ever want to come down / So, down’ but in a recent Instagram story posted by Meegan shows otherwise,” the fan who shared the post wrote.
“The lyrics shown in the teleprompter go, ‘Suck down’ instead of ‘So, down.’ Don’t know how accurate it is, but I believe that’s got to be the actual lyrics to the song and looking back at it, when Duff [McKagan] sings the ‘Suck!’ part, it does sound more like it instead of ‘So!'”
READ MORE: Axl Rose Reveals What Inspired Izzy Stradlin’s Lyrics on ’90s Guns N’ Roses Hit
Another fan thanked them for sharing the photo because they didn’t know those were the actual words and another pointed out that the lyrics printed on the sheet in physical copies of the album are wrong too.
We checked for ourselves and the sheet that comes with the Appetite for Destruction LP does in fact say, “And when you’re high you never / Ever want to come down, YEAH!”
So don’t be too hard on yourself if you’ve been singing the song wrong for the last 39 years — even the album didn’t have them right.
You can hear an isolated vocals version of the track below for extra reassurance that “suck” is the correct word.
Guns N’ Roses, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ (Isolated Vocals)
Check out every song Guns N’ Roses have played live since they reunited in 2016 below.
Every Song Guns N’ Roses Have Played Since They Reunited in 2016
Here’s every song Guns N’ Roses have played since Slash and Duff McKagan rejoined the band for their reunion tour in 2016.
Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner
