Did The Band Change The Demons Lyrics In Remixes?

My go-to method is to start at the source and work outward. If you want the official lyrics for 'Demons', first check the artist’s own channels — their official website and YouTube channel (look for a verified checkmark or the VEVO channel if they have one). Official lyric videos or the video description often include accurate, label-approved lyrics. I also use streaming services: Apple Music and Spotify now show licensed, synced lyrics for many tracks; Apple gets direct licensing and Spotify partners with Musixmatch, so those are usually trustworthy. If you need a backup or can’t find them there, head to licensed lyric providers like Musixmatch or LyricFind. They license text from publishers, so entries there tend to be official or publisher-approved. Be careful with fan-run sites (AZLyrics, LyricsFreak, older forums) — they’re convenient but often contain mistakes. A small habit that’s helped me is cross-checking two official places (artist site and streaming lyrics) and looking for publisher credits in the video description or album booklet if you have the digital booklet from a store like iTunes. That way I know I’m singing the correct words at karaoke night rather than making up my own version mid-chorus.

There's something oddly intimate about how a single translation choice can tilt a lyric's whole mood. When I listen to 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons in English and then scan a few translations, small shifts jump out: a casual phrase turned into a heavy moral judgment, a metaphor made literal, or a comforting image hardened into an accusation. Translators juggle literal meaning, cultural baggage, rhyme, and syllable counts — and depending on which they prioritize, the song can feel introspective, accusatory, vulnerable, or defiant. On a practical level, translations change nuance through word connotations and cultural frames. For example, a word that hints at personal struggle in one language might be read as a spiritual battle in another. Idioms and metaphors often refuse to travel intact, so translators either substitute with a local equivalent or explain the image away — both choices alter the listener's emotional route. Then there’s musical fit: a neat literal line might be awkward to sing, so lyrics are frequently adapted to preserve rhythm and rhyme; that can lead to different emphases in live performances or fan covers. I often compare versions while making tea, half-listening to the original and skimming translations. It’s fascinating how fan translations, official ones, and machine-generated versions each tell slightly different stories. If you want the raw mood, seek versions that lean poetic rather than purely literal, and if you crave story clarity, compare multiple translations and read translator notes — they’re like behind-the-scenes commentary on what was sacrificed or preserved.

I was poking around the liner notes of an old CD the other day and that exact question popped into my head — who actually owns the lyrics to 'Demons'? For most commercially released songs the short story is that the people who wrote the words (the songwriters) own the copyright in the composition, and their music publishers administer those rights. That means if you want to reproduce the lyrics, print them on merch, or use them in a film you usually need permission from the publisher (and often to negotiate with the record label for the master recording if you want the actual recording). In practice, for a track like 'Demons' the rights are split into two camps: the composition (lyrics and melody) and the sound recording (the recorded performance). The composition is owned by the songwriters and their publishers; the master is owned by the record label that released the track. To find the exact legal owners, I go to the performing-rights organizations — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, PRS, etc. — or check the album credits and the U.S. Copyright Office records. Those sources will list the writers and the publishers who control the lyric rights. If you’re trying to license anything (cover, sync in a video, print lyrics on a website), start with the publisher listed in those databases. For lyric display specifically, there are services like LyricFind and Musixmatch that have licensing deals, and for synchronization you’ll need to talk to the publisher directly. I learned this the hard way when I tried to use a chorus in a student film and ended up having to rework the scene — less dramatic, but a good lesson in copyright paperwork.

I still laugh thinking about the first time I sang along to 'Demons' in the car and realized halfway through I had been mouthing the wrong words for weeks. There are a few lines that trip people up every time, usually because of the melody, the breathy delivery, or how Dan Reynolds leans on certain syllables. One of the classics: people often hear “No matter what we be, we still are made of green” when the real lyric is “No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed.” It’s such a tiny shift but it changes the meaning wildly — green vs greed is a whole different vibe. Another common one I catch at karaoke is “Don’t get too close, it’s dark outside,” which sounds convincing until you listen closely and realize it’s “Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside.” Same for the opener: “When the days are cold and the cards all fold” frequently becomes “cars all fold” or even “cards all fold” said as “cars all fold” depending on the listener. People also mishear “I want to hide the truth” as “I wanna hide the roof,” which is delightfully silly, and “It’s where my demons hide” sometimes surfaces as “It’s where my demons lie” or “It’s where my demons hide” with different emphasis, which shifts the emotional weight. If you like, try listening to an isolated vocal track or a live acoustic version — it’s amazing how many of those little mondegreens snap into place and suddenly the song feels new again.

Sometimes a song just hits the spot where feelings hide, and 'Demons' does that for me. To me, it's a raw confession about the parts of ourselves we tuck away—the shame, anxiety, anger, and the messy impulses that we don’t want anyone close enough to see. The repeated warning in the chorus is like someone lovingly saying, “I care about you, but don’t get too close because I’m dangerous when I’m broken.” That mix of tenderness and danger is what makes the lyric so human: the singer wants to protect the person he loves from his own darkness while also admitting he can’t fully hide it. I’ve always heard social critique woven into it too: lines about saints being made of gold and greed suggest that even our idols and systems are flawed. Combined with what the band’s frontman has shared in interviews—about wrestling with personal struggles and the weight of expectation—the song becomes both intimate and universal. It’s one of those tracks I play when I’m trying to make sense of my own moods, or when I want music that confesses something I can’t. If you’re listening for specifics, focus less on literal demons and more on the emotional honesty: it’s a reminder that everyone carries shadows, and sometimes the bravest thing is to warn the people you love about them.

I still get chills hearing live renditions that twist a familiar song just slightly, and 'Demons' is no exception. From my spot near the barrier at a small gig I went to, the core words of the chorus were identical to the studio track, but the singer stretched syllables, added soft little vocal runs, and looped a line for dramatic effect. That kind of tweak isn’t technically changing the lyric, but it changes how the words land — the same text can feel rawer or more hopeful depending on tempo and emphasis. Sometimes artists do swap lines or pepper in new ones on purpose: to fit an acoustic arrangement, to respond to current events, or simply to riff off the crowd. I've heard bands replace a word to make a line less explicit on televised sets, or cut a verse entirely during a festival set when time’s tight. If you’re comparing studio and live versions of 'Demons', expect most of the lyrics to be intact, with variations more likely in ad-libs, repeated lines, or the structure around the bridge and outro If you like digging, I’d look for official live releases, stripped-down sessions, and fan-shot videos — they’re great for spotting tiny differences. For me, those little deviations are part of the magic: they make each performance uniquely alive rather than a carbon copy of the record.

Whenever I want reliable lyrics for 'Demons' I usually start with places that either have editorial oversight or are tied into streaming services. Genius is my go-to when I want to understand not just the words but what people think they mean — the community annotations often correct misheard lines and point out alternate versions. Musixmatch is great for spotting the exact studio lyrics because it syncs with Spotify and has a large library; you can often see the lyric timing as the song plays, which helps confirm tricky lines. AZLyrics and Lyrics.com are quick and simple: good for a fast copy-paste if you just need to sing along. For absolute certainty, I look for the official sources: the band's or artist's own website, official lyric videos on YouTube, or the liner notes in digital booklets from services like iTunes/Apple Music. Licensed aggregators such as LyricFind power a lot of the legit lyric displays on streaming platforms, so if you see the lyrics inside Apple Music or the in-app Spotify lyrics, that's usually accurate too. One last tip: multiple versions of 'Demons' exist (live, acoustic, radio edits), so check timestamps and whether the page specifies studio or live — that’s often where discrepancies come from. I’ve learned this the cheesy way — hemming a karaoke mic in front of friends only to discover a misheard bridge — so I double- or triple-check now. If you’re researching a particular artist’s take on 'Demons', cross-reference an official lyric video, a licensed streaming lyric, and one community-curated source like Genius. That combo rarely leads me astray, and it makes belting the chorus with confidence way easier.

That chorus line—'Don't get too close'—still catches in my chest whenever it plays. It’s so simple on the surface, a plain warning, but placed against a swelling melody and that intimate vocal delivery it suddenly feels like a confession. Another little fragment I keep hearing in my head is 'It's where my demons hide' — that paired image, the close personal address plus the metaphor of hiding, is compact storytelling. Those short phrases are memorable because they’re easy to sing along to, but they carry emotional weight: vulnerability disguised as a cautionary joke. Beyond the literal words, the way the lyrics are arranged matters. The verses set up small, concrete scenes and the chorus collapses them into a universal emotional truth, and that contrast makes lines like 'Don't get too close' land harder. I also love how internal rhymes and rhythmic phrasing—short, clipped consonants, quick vowel turns—help the lines stick. Production plays a role too: the chorus often sits on sparser instrumentation before exploding, so those few words become an anchor you always come back to. I find myself humming those lines on bus rides or at 2 a.m., which is the real test of a memorable lyric for me.