This Party Fears Two

The 'party' in this song has nothing to do with parties in the social gathering sense. 'This party' refers to the narrator himself, as in legal references to the first party, second part and third party. 'This party fears two' is an oblique way of admitting 'I fear the prospect of being in a personal relationship'.

And by the way - the title is just "Party Fears Two" - without "this" - just a note.

Pianosa23's view relating to the song meaning "this party fears two", is the most acceptable interoperation. Billy wrote the song about himself, by smudging himself - he used the word party. Hence party equals the narrator.

JpnGht noted that s/he wasn't sure if the song is about a couple or two brothers. That's no wonder, Billy's oblique way to write about himself, as he was homosexual. Rumoures say that he had love relation with Boy George. Billy lived in a fantasy world of relations, he never learned his lesson well. As he reached the highs of his lows.

The song is about fear, anxiety of being emotionally related to another. Why? Billy suffered from mal personal relationships. Most of songs deal with romance, love, hangover, the highs & lows of intimate feelings. Billy was over sensitive.I think time events support my view. Eventually he committed suicide 22-1-1997. Not forgetting the fact that his mother death, donated to that too.

When I read this song, I felt as it had ties to Joy Division's soloist Ian Curtis. The ties that I saw, that both Ian & Billy committed suicide. But beside that, I have no well supported basis for that.

Some notes that may interest you - about Billy

• from Wikipedia: The Cure song "Cut Here" written by Robert Smith, a friend of MacKenzie, is about his suicide. Siouxsie Sioux wrote the song "Say" about his suicide, revealing in the lyrics that they were going to meet just before his suicide. The song was released as a single in 1999 and charted in the UK Top 75. For her Medúlla album, Björk considered singing a beyond the grave duet with Mackenzie using recordings given to her by his father, but eventually decided against it.[1]

(the late) Billy's vocals on this song are magnificent. A great song from the early 80s. Never really sure what it is about but had assumed it was a couple - one who likes parties - the other does not. but it can't be that simple - it never is..

Probably is about a couple (but i'm not sure if a romantic couple or 2 brothers - "And then phone my brother up") at a party, one who enjoys it and has high self-confidence and the other does not. The other guy is not sure what to do, and feels threatened by the other people at the party : "Don't turn around I won't have to look at you And what's not found Is all that I see in you My manners are failing me I'm left feeling ugly.."

Maybe he is a handsome man but he feels ugly because he is not involved in the party, and the other people are looking at him with "bad eyes" : "Even a slight remark Makes nonsense and turns to shark"

Great song, fantastic band with some PERFECT music. I find it embarrassing that they are such an unknown band - they made such terrific albums. I guess the music papers back at the time were too busy writing about bands like Kajagoogoo etc.

This song's slightly dated now, but Billy Mckenzie's stunning vocals are a joy to behold.

My friend told me that it was about gatecrashing - trying to lie your way into a party! That makes quite a lot of sense to me - his brother is telling him he's dressed too smartly and stands out from the other guests; the nonsense he's talking is the cover story he's telling to try to get into the party. The song seems to run rather deeper than that situation though; but much of it sounds quite cryptic!