Reptile

Album:The Downward Spiral

Length:6:52

Tempo:64 BPM

Versions:Reptile
Reptile (Instrumental)
Reptilian
Underneath The Skin
Reptile (And All That Could Have Been) DVD
Liar (Reptile Demo)

Live:Self Destruct Touring Cycle through present

"Reptile" is the twelfth track on 1994's The Downward Spiral. At 6:52, it is the longest track on the album. In an interview, Trent Reznor stated that he would have liked the song to have been released as a single.

In 2021, a fake cassette single of "Reptile" was put up for sale on the nin.com store as a joke. The track "She's Gone Away" makes references to this song in its extra lyrics and in the Not The Actual Events physical component.

Song Credits

• Production: Trent Reznor
• Mixing Engineer: Alan Moulder

Appearances

Halos

• March Of The Pigs
• The Downward Spiral
• And All That Could Have Been (DVD)

Seeds

• Collected
• The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts

Versions

Reptile

This is the original album version. Characteristic of the band's mid-90s industrial rock sound, it opens with an eerie and quiet machine-like sound collage sampled from the film Leviathan, which transitions into an imitative musical composition. The structure, repetitive in nature, contains three distinct but similar sections, all driven by machine-like percussion loops and undulating rhythm guitar and synthesized bass. Two looped mechanical sounds that run through the song are sampled from the film Aliens: a metallic thud from the opening scene immediately after the chamber is cut open, and a pitched-up mechanical sound from the first power loader scene. The choruses reflect a brighter mood with prominent melodic synthesizers and glimpses of guitar. The three sections are joined by two quiet instrumental breaks, a technique used later on "Even Deeper." The ascending synth melody from 5:13 to 5:20 could potentially be a reference to or an interpolation of "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the television show Twin Peaks. During this same section, there is a looped sample of a woman saying, "Kirk, help?" from the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The "gong" sound that appears midway through the track and after the bridge is also used near the end of "Hurt", but the pitch is changed.

The drums used are the same as on "Fell From Heaven" by Lead Into Gold (a Paul Barker side-project, and one whose music video for "Faster Than Light" features a cameo from Reznor.) This may be strictly coincidence, given that some of the same or similar instruments may have been used, or it could be an actual sample.

A reversed version of the track is hidden on side B of the Not The Actual Events vinyl.

Reptile (Instrumental)

Released by Reznor via his remix.nin.com account, this unmastered instrumental version is identical to the album version, save the lack of vocals and transitions to or from other songs.

Reptilian

Running Time: 8:40

This version has more loop layering, no intro, and instrumental choruses after the regular choruses. "Reptilian" appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Further Down The Spiral and as a March Of The Pigs b-side.

Song Credits

• Re-construction: Dave Ogilvie

Underneath The Skin

Running Time: 7:13

This version is a mostly instrumental mix that manipulates many of the rhythmic elements and synthesizers, also adding other layers of loops.

Song Credits

• Re-construction: Dave Ogilvie

Liar (Reptile Demo)

Running Time: 6:57

This demo is relatively the same as the version that found its way onto The Downward Spiral throughout the intro and verses, but the chorus features a more danceable beat and different vocals layered over.

Reptile (And All That Could Have Been)

This live version is an Easter Egg on the DVD version of And All That Could Have Been and is generally more guitar-heavy than the studio version. Reznor is barely audibly whispering "pig" as the intro fades in, showing that the song's place in the tracklist is between "March of the Pigs" and "Piggy." He also adds lyrics during the quiet breaks. It and other hidden content can be found via the "Beneath The Surface" menu hidden on disc two, accessed during "Head Like A Hole" at the 11:20 mark by pressing 7 (or 6 for some copies) on the remote, then Enter.

Live

The song has always been performed with the beep melody as an introduction, though sometimes without the machine loop collage. During the second quiet bridge, Reznor often sings "please don't hurt me," followed by a desperate cry. Reznor sometimes alters the final line of the first verse to say "a thousand lovers" instead of "a thousand others." During the Self Destruct tours, the band would be bathed in green light and reptilian "scales" would be projected onto them. On the Year Zero Warm-Up Tour, the intro was further extended with a more articulate sound and Reznor whispering over it.

This song was also reworked and featured in the Boston, Massachusetts radio performance (Peter Murphy, Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jeordie White) on June 23, 2006, with its ending transitioning into a cover of "Haunted When the Minutes Drag" by Love and Rockets. The drum loops used in this iteration seem to use the same sound set and a similar beat as those in "The Good Soldier."

Lyrics

    She spreads herself wide open to let the insects in
    She leaves a trail of honey to show me where she’s been
    She has the blood of reptile just underneath her skin
    Seeds from a thousand others drip down from within
    
    Oh my beautiful liar
    Oh my precious whore
    My disease my infection
    I am so impure
    
    Devils speak of the ways in which she'll manifest
    Angels bleed from the tainted touch of my caress
    Need to contaminate to alleviate this loneliness
    I now know the depths I reach are limitless
    
    Oh my beautiful liar
    Oh my precious whore
    My disease my infection
    I am so impure

After the first chorus, extra words not in the lyrics are spoken. Reznor appears to be saying:

   Give it.

   Oh, please don't hurt me.

External Links

• "Reptile" live in Boston, 6.23.06
• "Reptile" (Instrumental) at archive.org

Previous track - "Eraser" Track 12 from The Downward Spiral Next track - "The Downward Spiral"