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Reptiles Lyrics

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 & 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
& your screwed.
Tongues flash & flick as if they're
screamin.

Oh they lie
just like any 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 you can't take back.
Take one lying down
for a change.
& oh,
it's like cleaning up
after an orgy
when it's over,
I wish someone would burn this place to the ground.
15 Meanings

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Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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...

My Interpretation

@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.

Questions are a fire That needs feeding to survive We should be asking more questions, we NEED to ask more in depth questions to get to the truth So just you let those flames die down But they don't want us to ask any questions, just shut up and do what they tell you to do...

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

Possibly my favorite. I think it's about not trusting anyone

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

this song blatantly describes the reptilians and there agenda. thats about it. cool song, i love this album .

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

one of the best on the cd! love this song!!

My Opinion
Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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?"

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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."

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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.

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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"

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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.

Song Meaning

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.

Cover art for Reptiles lyrics by Them Crooked Vultures

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".

 
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