Lyric discussion by RoboticMamboMe 

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...