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Reptile Lyrics

she spreads herself wide open to let the insects in
she leaves a trail of honey to show me where she's been
she has the blood of reptile just underneath her skin
seeds from a thousand others drip down from within

oh, my beautiful liar
oh, my precious whore
my disease, my infection
I am so impure (oh)

devils speak of the way in which she'll manifest
angels bleed from the tainted touch of my caress
need to contaminate, to alleviate this loneliness
I now know that the depths I reach are limitless

oh, my beautiful liar
oh, my precious whore
my disease, my infection
I am so impure (oh)

oh, my beautiful liar
oh, my precious whore
my disease, my infection
I am so impure

oh, my beautiful liar
oh, my precious whore
my disease, my infection
I am so impure
Song Info
Submitted by
implode On Apr 25, 2001
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Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

For a while, I really couldn't put my finger on this song. I thought it belonged earlier in the album, closer to other songs like "Closer" and "Big Man With A Gun." However, I'm starting to realize that it makes a whole lot of sense. In my eyes, this is the conclusion to a sexual, conceptual trilogy in "The Downward Spiral."

After every major event in the album, the protagonist turns to sexual control in an attempt to heal himself. In "Closer," our protagonist turns away from religion ("Heresy") and first uses sex and control as an escape from the horrors of his mind and his internal battle after whatever happened to him in "Piggy," quite possibly a breakup. The feeling of power provided a temporary escape, but ultimately it only advanced him further down the spiral. After the assault of Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/the antagonistic machine dark side in "The Becoming," he amplified his efforts to escape in "Big Man With A Gun," taking even more control over his partner, taking away the sensuality and emotion, and possibly resorting to violence. Scared and frightened after his realizations of responsibility and thoughts of suicide in "A Warm Place" and "Eraser," our protagonist turns to sex for a third and final time, but this time something is different. He isn't able to lose himself in the pleasure and the power, because this time he is aware of the decline in his life and he's aware that his partner is, frankly, a whore. He no longer feels truly in control now that he realizes he's paying this woman to do what he says, thus the lines "Oh my beautiful liar, oh my precious whore." The theme of STDs is highly present in the song, but I'm not so sure the protagonist actually contracts a disease as much as he realizes his own impurity in trying to get away from himself via sex and control. This is an album of concepts, after all; STDs are to "Reptile" as religion is to "Heresy," sex is to "Closer," sociopaths are to "Ruiner," suicide is to "Hurt," etc. The genius of it all is that Trent Reznor manages to string all of these concepts into a traceable plot. That all being said, upon realization of himself and his partners' true nature in bed, our protagonist is ready to take the final steps down the spiral.

I love this interpretation. It sounds absolutely spot-on.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

it's about a lover of his who cheated on him and brought back an incurable std to the relationship (thereby confirming the infidelity). it should be pretty obvious. the song is called "reptile". what do you call a person who studies reptiles?

@samiam00 totally. Angels bleed from his caress... he infects other innocent people.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

Dude. You guys are reading too much into it. Trent Reznor just wanted to break up the heavy mood of the album with a silly, lighthearted song about a woman who was born with lizard DNA.

I mean......didn't he?

LOL

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

"she has the blood of a reptile"-The line showcases that the girl is cold and uninterested in a loving, meaningful relationship. I've heard that reptiles are considered to be cold blooded.

"i now know that the depths I reach are limitless"-Pherhaps the narattor feels that he's reached the bottom once he has allowed himself to be a willing participant in such a horrendous, emotionless, purely phisical, convinient relationship. In Closer, he attempts to get to know this girl, loves her with all of his being and wants her to be the one, but by reptile, he realizes she feels little for him, and is uninterestd in the kind of relationships he desires. He blames himself for being shallow, dishonest and unable to move on.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I disagree with LittleUrantiaGirl. "Piggy" and "Closer" was referring to a lover that he lost. The song is about a prostitute, as mentionned above. In the story of The Downward Spiral, the music at the end paints a picture of the main character realising that he has to commit suicide (as seen in the next song, The Downward Spiral). The music does a good job of such a scary realisation.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

i think this song is about becoming disenchanted with a girl. he once saw her as beautiful, but now seems to blame her for tainting him.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

hmm.....from personal experience with someone like this....my understanding is someone very weak but very strong, someone who has been beaten down so many times that they lose their humanity and become reptilian, but one (trent in this case) can still love her in an odd way, a consuming way. It ties in with the idea of the sacred whore, the magdalene idea, except it is more of a corrupted version of such, as are most NIN songs....songs of beauty lost.

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I think this song is based on on a girl the character falls in love with. It's a continuation of "Piggy" and "Closer". He loves the girl, although she's dingy and hurts him. . . he knows he shouldn't, but he keeps coming back for more.

"oh my beautiful liar, oh my precious whore"

  • He's deeply in love with her, and amazed by her sluttiness. He's a self-abusing person, and he adores her for the way she hurts him.
Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

this song was inspired by the movie 'eraserhead.'

Cover art for Reptile lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

Eraserhead is a kickass movie.