A Stroke of Thought

Reptilia: The Strokes

He seemed impressed by the way you came in.
"Tell us a story
I know you're not boring"

I was afraid that you would not insist.
"You sound so sleepy
just take this, now leave me"

I said please don't slow me down
If I'm going too fast
You're in a strange part of our town...

Yeah, the night's not over
You're not trying hard enough,
Our lives are changing lanes
You ran me off the road,
The wait is over
I'm now taking over,
You're no longer laughing
I'm not drowning fast enough.

Now every time that I look at myself
"I thought I told you
this world is not for you"

The room is on fire as she's fixing her hair
"you sound so angry
just calm down, you found me"

I said please don't slow me down
If I'm going too fast
You're in a strange part of our town...

Yeah, the night's not over
You're not trying hard enough,
Our lives are changing lanes
You ran me off the road,
The wait is over
I'm now taking over,
You're no longer laughing
I'm not drowning fast enough.

There's always someone right? The clingy friend, the obsessive girlfriend, the possessive boyfriend. Who you used to like maybe even love, but now that affection has grown cold bitter and hateful. You could have spent two weeks with the person, or you could have spent fifteen years with them. But now every breath every syllable every flaw every quality is everything you despise. You see death and torture and pain in their face as cycles of regret, pain, longing and hate unravel. That one beloved or well liked person is now nothing but anger and despair. How does this happen? The look they give you, a seemingly sweet gesture that strikes a sour note. When this impermeable hate takes hold of you how do you let go?

In Reptilla by the Strokes there are a lot of hidden meanings and details to dig out in the song, there are many lines and phrases to interpret as well as having a good instrumental portion, which I really like about it, that is has another dimension besides it being a good song.

I printed out the lyrics and drew connections and took apart each sentence which really helped to understand the meaning of the song. In this song even though there are a lot of contrasting lines and sharp changes in both music and the feel of the words the song is very tastefully spewing and also withholding that unwanted and the painful feeling of getting beaten down again and again. The song is basically about the narrator who is sick and tired of the seemingly clingy and egocentric girlfriend who wont let go of him.

The almost dodgy, obscure and contradicting stanzas. I think that four of my favorite lines are “The room is on fire as she’s fixing her hair.” And “Yeah the nights not over you’re not trying hard enough” I think that these lines both convey a lot of the same message in different ways. “The room is on fire as she’s fixing her hair.” Is really showing how oblivious this person is to how much damage they are really causing to the people around her. “Yeah the nights not over, you’re not trying hard enough” Is a bit of a confusing line because of two meanings. I think it means that the tables have turned a little bit and now, the main guy is outwitting the woman like a child telling her that there is still time to make apologies is one meaning, but it contradicts the rest of the song because of the unwanted and fed up with her, complex feelings in the beginning.