Formed in 2007 by University of Salford and school friends Jonathan Higgs (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jeremy Pritchard (bass, vocals), Michael Spearman (drums) and original guitarist Alex Niven, they released their debut single Suffragette Suffragette in 2008, followed by Photoshop Handsome and MY KZ, UR BF, all accompanied by their own self-made videos. In 2009 Niven left and was replaced by ex-Operahouse guitarist Alex Robertshaw.
The band went on to be nominated for the BBC Sound of 2010, and subsequently released their Mercury Prize nominated debut album Man Alive on August 30th, 2010 on Geffen UK. This was accompanied by re-released singles MY KZ, UR BF and Photoshop Handsome as well as Schoolin' and Final Form.
After a year of touring including two successful orchestral concerts at which the entirety of Man Alive was played, the band are back in 2012 with new single Cough Cough, receiving extensive airplay and debuting at #37 in the charts. The second single Kemosabe will be released in the new year, followed by the second album Arc, to be released on RCA Victor on January 14th, 2013.
The Stuart Price produced Distant Past was released in February 2015, as an advance of their third album 'Get To Heaven' (15th June 2015).
No Reptiles
Everything Everything Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To the wild to the car under snow, cut to ribbons
Like a coral to your shin like a manacle to swing
Fresh from the breast now a river running fat
To the manor born a rat to the manor born a flea
To a flood to a drain now a rubber, now a chain
You were in the war
Plump from the sugar-water pump with the city at your back
To the cannon with a match from a milk into a mass grave
Never mind that, I can take that
Bones in a bowl like a toad-in-the-hole
Take the shape of the mould like a mummy on a pole
And a merry little head Bob around when you're dead
I was on my knees
You were on your knees
And no reptiles
Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties
Waiting for the flashing green man
Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know
I'm going to kill a stranger
So don't you be a stranger
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
The path that takes me home
Wise enough to know myself
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
Old enough to fire a gun
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
The path that takes me home
Wise enough to know myself
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
No Reptiles by Everything Everything is a deeply introspective song that explores themes of mortality, human nature, and the desire for something more. The lyrics are a combination of abstract imagery and straightforward statements that invite contemplation and reflection. The song opens with "Slip from the trees to the dirt to the menace/ To the wild to the car under snow, cut to ribbons/ Like a coral to your shin like a manacle to swing," which can be interpreted as a metaphor for the transition from an innocent, child-like state to the harsh realities of adulthood. The second verse "Plump from the sugar-water pump with the city at your back/ To the cannon with a match from a milk into a mass grave/ Never mind that, I can take that" signals the struggle between innocence and experience, and the notion that we have to withstand the ups and downs of life.
The chorus of the song, "And no reptiles/ Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties/ Waiting for the flashing green man/ Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know," references the evolutionary theory that humans evolved from reptiles, and suggests that we are still instinctual beings at our core. The repeated lyric "old enough to fire a gun" is both a reflection on how quickly people can become aggressive and violent but also a comment on the military and its trained killers. In the bridge, the lyrics "Just give me this one night/ Just one night to feel/ Like I might be on the right path/ The path that takes me home/ Wise enough to know myself" indicate a desire for self-awareness and a sense of homecoming.
Line by Line Meaning
Slip from the trees to the dirt to the menace
Moving from innocence to sin and guilt
To the wild to the car under snow, cut to ribbons
Transitioning from isolation to destruction
Like a coral to your shin like a manacle to swing
An action or object that is both attractive and harmful
Fresh from the breast now a river running fat
Feeling content and full of life
To the manor born a rat to the manor born a flea
Feeling inferior and trapped within an environment
To a flood to a drain now a rubber, now a chain
Unable to escape from a negative situation
I was in the war
Fighting a personal battle or struggle
You were in the war
Someone else there to help or understand the battle
Plump from the sugar-water pump with the city at your back
Feeling comfort in a harmful environment
To the cannon with a match from a milk into a mass grave
Going from a passive bystander to an active participant in destruction
Never mind that, I can take that
Accepting and shrugging off negative consequences
Bones in a bowl like a toad-in-the-hole
Death or destruction made into a familiar, non-threatening image
Take the shape of the mould like a mummy on a pole
Losing individuality and becoming a symbol of death
And a merry little head Bob around when you're dead
Life and happiness continue even after death
I was on my knees
Feeling helpless and desperate
You were on your knees
Someone else there to help or understand the struggle
And no reptiles
No harmful influences or negativity
Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties
A safe, sterile, and controlled environment
Waiting for the flashing green man
Waiting for permission or guidance to move forward
Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know
Vulnerable and unsteady, like all other beings
I'm going to kill a stranger
A desire for power or control over others
So don't you be a stranger
A way of establishing dominance over others
Oh baby, it's alright
Reassurance that everything will be okay
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
It's okay to feel helpless and dependent
Old enough to run
Capable of taking action and responsibility
Old enough to fire a gun
Capable of causing harm or destruction
Just give me this one night
A desire for a temporary escape or relief
Just one night to feel
A need for emotional release or expression
Like I might be on the right path
A sense of hope and direction
The path that takes me home
The path that leads to comfort and safety
Wise enough to know myself
Understanding oneself and making good decisions
Lyrics Β© BMG Rights Management
Written by: HIGGS JONATHAN JOSEPH, PRITCHARD JEREMY JOSEPH, ROBERTSHAW ALEXANDER KAINES, SPEARMAN MICHAEL DAVID
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@masonlegs5099
Well...here is what he said
"It's written as if I'm rejected from society just about to do something awful. I wrote that at a time when I was feeling quite separate from, even against, society as a whole. I was feeling quite hateful towards my own country and my own place in the world, and feeling like I didn't really like Britain or what it stands for. I don't necessarily feel like that all the time, but I do sometimes.
The song has this theme of fat pouring down the streets and clogging every hole - that's how I was feeling about the general public, me included. We're just this blobby, inactive, privileged, big, pale blob, and I wanted to use this metaphor of this massive fat-tsunami washing through the city streets and going into the gutters. That was how I felt; it was how I felt about a big do-nothing society that hadn't changed. It all comes back to being fat really... it's like one of the things that you just see; I'm kind of fat, and I don't like that about myself.
A few of my friends have become conspiracy nuts in the past few years, and I flirted with that idea for a bit, but I realised that it's really romantic to imagine a world run by reptiles with a super-evil plan masterminding eveything. It's much scarier, and much more likely, that the people at the top are just fat, bald, old men, like soft-boiled eggs, that are just weak-willed, with no strong feelings (good or ill). They're lily-livered and easily swayed and quivering and wobbling. To me, that's a horrible thought, but it also makes me feel guilty: if I was at the top, would I be a weak-willed, quivering, chubby overlord?
In terms of the song's darker stuff, with the line "I'm gonna kill a stranger", there is also the follow up line: "So don't you be a stranger...", which obviously means don't be a stranger, don't leave me, don't go away etc., and it that way it's almost a cry for help. But then it also means 'I won't kill you... if you're my friend'. It's got this double-edged feeling throughout. Then the song changes and I'm likening myself to a fat child in a pushchair, sort of helpless and inactive and no use to anyone in the world that needs help. I'm just idle, and no one wants to be idle, but we find ourselves in that position living in this country. We're passive, and we just get out our phones and move on. I wanted to say that in a sharp, insulting way to maybe make people snap out of that, to make them nervous and embarrassed. It's not horrifying, but it's a bit cruel, and I wanted to be cruel to people listening, and to myself. But then I'm saying "It's alright..." so it's again this weird accusatory-slash-helpful tone.
The song ends with me saying 'just give me one night, one moment to feel like I'm on the right path', pleading to just feel like I am helping the world, that I'm not useless. I think people have definitely connected to that and that sentiment of not wanting to continue as a negative or passive force in the world. "
...if you were curious
@EvilPainNova
Slip from the trees
To the dirt to the menace
To the wild to the car
Under snow, cut to ribbons
Like a coral to your shin
Like a manacle to swing
Fresh from the breast
Now a river running fat
To the manor born a rat
To the manor born a flea
To a flood to a drain
Now a rubber, now a chain
I was in the war
You were in the war
Plump from the sugar-water pump
With the city at your back
To the cannon with a match
From a milk into a mass grave
Never mind that, I can take that
Bones in a bowl
Like a toad-in-the-hole
Take the shape of the mould
Like a mummy on a pole
And a merry little head
Bob around when you're dead
I was on my knees
You were on your knees
And no reptiles!
Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties
Waiting for the flashing green man
Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know
I'm going to kill a stranger
So don't you be a stranger
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Oh baby, it's alright
It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
The path that takes me home
Wise enough to know myself
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
(Home)
Old enough to fire a gun
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
The path that takes me home
Wise enough to know myself
Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
@NoleLilley
This is one of those songs that you listen to and don't immediately like, but, you know that you're going to end up loving it and overplaying it. I'm deep in the overplaying phase and loving it.
@katiemosher7654
Exactly
@delishbrown
one of the most underrated bands in existence.
@okayweredonehere2159
Del Brown and car seat headrest
@lizwithoutbuildings
@Youraddictions YES
@kiorbssubs9619
Nah, Anathema is
@trovestove6886
If I didn't play dirt3 in 2020 I would never have found this audio therapy
@tqft
Totally!
@alicehulkes153
Just one of those songs you don't want to end
@BADGERSPY
+Alice Hulkes Happy New Year :)