Reptilia

"Reptilia" is the second single lifted from Room on Fire, the second album of acclaimed American garage rock/post-punk band The Strokes. The single's B-side contains "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men", where lead singer Julian Casablancas duets with Regina Spektor. The official release date was delayed slightly after Casablancas objected to the song being credited as "The Strokes and Regina Spektor", claiming that it should read "by Regina Spektor & The Strokes". The title "Reptilia" refers to the "Reptilian complex", the central part of one's brain that handles basic emotions such as love and hate. The cover of the single features the artwork from the cabinet of the 1980 arcade game Centipede by Atari. The music video for the song was their first that was not directed by Roman Coppola. Instead they chose Jake Scott to shoot the video, which features close shots of the band members' faces and hands while performing the song. At the end of the video, Julian Casablancas spits at the camera lens. The song is a playable track in the video games Rock Band and in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The minor difference is that the overexposed effect on Casablancas' vocals is removed.

[Verse 1] 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" [Pre-Chorus] I said, please don't slow me down if I'm going too fast You're in a strange part of our town [Chorus] 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 [Verse 2] Now every time that I look at myself "I thought I told you, this world is not for you" The room is on fire and she's fixing her hair "You sound so angry, just calm down, you found me" [Pre-Chorus] I said please don't slow me down if I'm going too fast You're in a strange part of our town [Chorus] 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