This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I tried to make a break
What a fool
I should've known, I never listen
I'm in a cage
An animal, I'm in a cage
But the reptiles
They won't let me go
I think they want you to stray
Watch the monkey dance
Give 'em a taste
Look at him he's always smiling
Help me to escape
Your mouth agape
You foreign tourist
Woe is me, it will be a funeral
A circus, I'll rap on the cell door
Questions are a fire
That needs feeding to survive
So just you let those flames die down
Trained by consequence and the lash
It leaves me breathless
Their praise is a poison to us all
In the moonlight their scars flash like jewelry
Get too precious
Get locked up in a cage
Want to get, gotta risk any move
Misconstrued and you're screwed
Tongues flash and flick as if they're screaming
Oh they lie just like a lover
Oh do they, those kisses will burn
Under the lights
They snap a finger
You jump, you answer
Like a naive hooker with a big dumb smile
For the reptiles
I guess you'll never know
They won't let you go
Cause you're the soup du'jour, that's for sure
Questions are a fire
That needs feeding, to survive
So just you let those flames die down
See them reptiles crawl?
Getting closer
Why won't someone come to drive them away?
Don't rest too long
It's a mistake we can't take back
Take one lying down for a change
And oh it's like cleaning up after an orgy
When it's over
I wish someone would burn this place
To the ground
What a fool
I should've known, I never listen
I'm in a cage
An animal, I'm in a cage
But the reptiles
They won't let me go
I think they want you to stray
Watch the monkey dance
Give 'em a taste
Look at him he's always smiling
Help me to escape
Your mouth agape
You foreign tourist
Woe is me, it will be a funeral
A circus, I'll rap on the cell door
Questions are a fire
That needs feeding to survive
So just you let those flames die down
Trained by consequence and the lash
It leaves me breathless
Their praise is a poison to us all
In the moonlight their scars flash like jewelry
Get too precious
Get locked up in a cage
Want to get, gotta risk any move
Misconstrued and you're screwed
Tongues flash and flick as if they're screaming
Oh they lie just like a lover
Oh do they, those kisses will burn
Under the lights
They snap a finger
You jump, you answer
Like a naive hooker with a big dumb smile
For the reptiles
I guess you'll never know
They won't let you go
Cause you're the soup du'jour, that's for sure
Questions are a fire
That needs feeding, to survive
So just you let those flames die down
See them reptiles crawl?
Getting closer
Why won't someone come to drive them away?
Don't rest too long
It's a mistake we can't take back
Take one lying down for a change
And oh it's like cleaning up after an orgy
When it's over
I wish someone would burn this place
To the ground
Lyrics submitted by DeadEndFriend
Reptiles Lyrics as written by Josh Homme John Baldwin
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
My $0.02,
The Reptiles are the world leaders/music industry leaders.
The Circus/Zoo is the entertainment industry.
Josh is singing from the perspective of an artist trapped in a cage that he cant escape from a.k.a the record labels basically own the music artists and they have to do what they're told by their masters and be put on display to entertain us while we look on and cant see that these music artists want to escape their "cages".
Help me to escape! your mouth agape You foreign tourist... Woe is me, it will be a funeral, a circus, I'll rap on the cell door.
QUESTIONS ARE A FIRE THAT NEEDS FEEDING TO SURVIVE So just you let those flames die down.
"Questions are a fire that needs feeding to survive"... I think this line is trying to say we need to keep asking more questions about the world and how things work as we really dont see the bigger picture and what is really going on with these "reptiles" behind the scenes manipulating everything and pulling all the strings in the entertainment industry, politics etc. And the way we just look on with our "mouth agape" and let the caged animals who really know whats going on entertain us and dont ask any questions.
The line at the end how he wishes someone would burn this place to the ground I think is signifying that he wishes people would ask more questions and gain more knowledge about the "circus" to make the "fire" bigger to expose the Reptiles and their agenda.
Spinning in Daffodils has an interesting lyric about the "king of the zoo" also, I need to go check that somg out now...
@RoboticMamboMe I think you're spot on here. There are so many artists who sing about the very industry that made them who they are...but that industry is a diabolical one, not there for the artist, but to make a profit at that artist's expense. <br /> <br /> <br /> Questions are a fire That needs feeding to survive<br /> We should be asking more questions, we NEED to ask more <br /> in depth questions to get to the truth<br /> So just you let those flames die down<br /> But they don't want us to ask any questions, just shut up <br /> and do what they tell you to do<br /> <br /> Trained by consequence and the lash<br /> Sounds like Josh tried to break away from it all, but was<br /> perhaps threatened with legal action if he went there<br /> <br /> Their praise is a poison to us all<br /> the industry big-wigs primp and pander to artists, <br /> lying by telling them how great they are while trying<br /> to figure out how to get more money out of them<br /> <br /> They won't let you go Cause you're the soup du'jour, that's for sure<br /> The artist can't get away, can't break the contract, because<br /> they've got him over a barrel, legally. As the artist of the<br /> moment, they've got their hooks in, and so parade them <br /> around for all to see, forcing them to entertain others in the<br /> industry, like a monkey in a cage.<br /> <br /> Nearly every artist I've heard of who feels trapped by the industry, feels this way. Everyone gets paid before the artist themself, and the artist is forced to keep entertaining just to keep his head above water.
Possibly my favorite. I think it's about not trusting anyone
this song blatantly describes the reptilians and there agenda. thats about it. cool song, i love this album .
one of the best on the cd! love this song!!
It seems to me to be about a circus, which is compared to a funeral, interestingly. It's from the point of view of one of the animals (a lion? I'm thinking one of the animals not mentioned in the song) and how they just want to be free. The line that really jumps out at me is begging the foreign tourist to help them escape, and the disgust that the tourist is enamored by the show.
"Trained by consequence and the lash" also seems to point toward animals doing tricks.
"Under the lights..." is another line that seems to point toward animals doing tricks.
The "liar" whose "kisses will burn" is the animal trainer, who gives them treats and pets them, then whips them.
"Their praise is a poison to us all" is about how if the "foreign tourists" weren't paying to attend and applauding the acts, the animals wouldn't be slave performers.
"I wish someone would burn this place to the ground" is fairly self-explanatory. Destroy the circus.
Some lines I don't understand, though. Like, why is this character jealous of the reptiles? Are the reptiles humans? "See them reptiles crawl? Getting closer... Why won't someone come to drive them away?"
it COULD be about a circus, if you mean the world is a stage, and the reptiles are the ring masters. Because this is about a reptilian race/government that is in current control of our world and possibly thoughts/feelings/actions. Whether you believe it or not, that's what these lyrics mean. If you take this context and run with it throughout the whole album, the lyrics almost seem to be recruiting you, "wake up, this is what's going down, these are the lies, now get out there and live."
There seems to be an 's' missing from the name of the song... It's called "Reptiles".
Anyway, I really like this song... Seeing the lyrics it seems as though the reptiles are getting their revenge on us humans and buzzards.
I think it's about a circus. I don't know what the circus symbolizes but the best part is with the fire. "questions are a fire that needs feeding to survive." And "I wish someone would burn this place to the ground." It's like the reptiles are the ones in control of someone or something that needs our help, or maybe the reptiles are controlling us. But for some reason if we continue to question our dictators, captors, leaders the more that we destroy their control over us. "Oh they lie just like a lover, of do they, Those kisses will BURN"
The circus idea is a good theory, but it's actually about the future. I'm not exactly sure how everything ties in yet, but I know this because when they played this song at Cologne in 2009, Josh says beforehand, "This song is about the future." So maybe in the future, the reptiles take over the world and a guy gets captured, and the story is being told from his viewpoint.
that's really interesting, because the people who believe in the reptiles always say this is the turning point. this is where they win and we lose, unless we shake shit up.
Josh Homme said at either Concert Prive or gig in Germany, can't remember which - "This song is about the future... I just hope it ain't my future".