Where Did the Party Go

I think this song is about the stigma behind party culture and the pressure to actually go out and fit into the club scene. On the outside it seems so glamorous and lust driven, but on the inside everyone is just the same: often heart broken and worn out. It's like we go out, get drunk, and dance provocatively with strangers in attempts to forget about our problems, only to be reminded of our pasts and exactly what we are trying to run away from in the first place.

Parts of this song make me think that's it's about Fall Out Boy making a comeback only to find that many of their fans might have grown up and moved on:

"And all the boys are smoking Menthol's, Girls are getting back rubs"

(They're not interested in Fall Out Boy any more, they've moved on, "grown up" become boring etc)

Plus, obviously the line "Where did the party go?"

Also, these lines:

"I'm here to collect your hearts, It's the only reason that I sing"

show that the band are trying to earn a new fans. They may have lost their old fans but (new) people will always enjoy their music.

This line:

"Silent film stars stuck in talking cinema light" seems to be talking about the move from silent films moving to 'talkies'. Many silent film stars struggled because they weren't used to talking in films, it had all been about the emotion portrayed through expression, body language and music. But some silent films stars did manage to make a career out of 'talkies'. I guess through this comparison to film, Fall Out Boy are saying that they hope they can be the ones that will make it through the progression of music.

This is just one interpretation of the song though.

Unfortunately I can't find the quote again but back years ago Pete talked about trying drugs and he specifically said the boys he was with were smoking menthols and giving the girls back rubs. "When she touched him he turned ruby red" makes me thing of a nose bleed from snorting cocaine or pills.

"I don't believe a word you say, But I can't stop listening" I think this is referring to drugs. Think about if someone telling a scary story, you don't want to listen to it, because it scares you, but you're so intrigued by the story you can't stop listening. It's the same with if someone was offering you drugs. He doesn't want them, but he's intrigued.

"This is the story of how they met, Her picture was on the back of a pack of cigarettes" On the back of cigarettes, they have what could happen to your lungs if you smoke. So a trashed lung from a dead body. He fell in love with a person wrecked by drugs, the drugs were going to kill her, so he referred to her as dead already.

"My old aches become new again, My old friends become ex's again" I think this means that he's either lost all of his friends because they don't want to be friends with someone ruined by drugs, or that all of his friends have been wrecked by drugs.The happiness wears off and everything that bothered him comes back. ("My old aches become new again")

"Where, where did the party go?" This isn't just a fun thing they did at parties, no one else wants to party, the drugs have ruined them all.

"I know I expect too much And not enough all at once You know I only wanted fun And you got me all fucked up Oh no" He didn't really know what he was expecting, whether it was better than what it was, or worse. The rest speaks for itself.

"All the kids who screamed (we weren't the same) In sweaty rooms Now we're doomed to organizing walk-in closets like tombs" All the happy parting people changed, they're all gonna die or walk around like zombies.

"Silent film stars stuck in talking cinema light So let's fade away together one dream at a time" Silent film stars used to be popular, but it got replaced with talking ones. "Talking cinema light makes me think of people talking over the film because they were bored, so they faded away. Marilyn Monroe was a movie star too, and she killed herself with drugs. So fading away one dream at a time..they're ambitions weren't what they wanted, let go. Oh, where did the party go?

I think this song is about all their fans, and fans of rock music in general moving on or growing up, probably even referring to their days in the Midwest before they made it big. They come back into the music scene and things have changed and no one's left, so their old party is gone.

The bridge talking about kids screaming "We weren't the same!" is talking about the types of people they played for, the kids who felt lost and related to their music. The silent film stars referring to the kids who grew up and now have to live in the real world and force themselves to fit in.

it's about growing up

I don't know about the whole song but one line definitely interested me. When it says 'All the kids who screamed (we weren't the same) In sweaty rooms Now we're doomed to organizing walk-in closets like tombs' I think this might be a reference to LGBTQ+. They kids who screamed we weren't the same, meaning LGBTQ+ kids who aren't the same, who are different. The kids who because of persecution stay in the closet their whole life, they organize walk in closets like tombs. I don't know, just a thought.

I honestly don't know if I've looked into all the lyrics enough to nail down a concrete meaning, but here's what the chorus makes me think of.

I'm taking the premise of this song literally: He's actually at a party. His girlfriend didn't come to this party; he's there alone. His girlfriend calls him partway into the party and breaks up with him. "Where did the party go" is in reference to his breakup ("Where did our love go" basically). Naturally "We're ending it on the phone" is talking about how his girlfriend broke up with him over the phone.

Then he gets angry at her, and as sort of a revenge thing, he goes to get a revenge girlfriend. "I'm not gonna go home alone".

Yeah. I dunno. That's about as far as I've looked at it.