Songfacts®:

• Prince rarely talked about the meanings behind his songs, but he did explain "Partyup" in a 1981 talk with the British magazine NME. Turns out, it's a political song.
  
  "I was in a lot of different situations when I was coming up to make that record," he said. "A lot of anger came up through the songs. It was kind of a rough time. There were a few anti-draft demonstrations going or that I was involved in that spurred me to write 'Partyup.' Really, that song is just about people who'd rather have a good time than go and shoot up one another. That's all - it's pretty basic. I just seem to read about a lot of politicians who're all going to die soon and I guess they want to go out heavy, because they're prepare to make a few mistakes and end up starting a war that they don't have to go out and fight. I just think the people should have a little more to say in some of these foreign matters. I don't want to have to go out and die for their mistakes."
• This is one of the few Prince songs where he had a co-writer. The music was written in part by Morris Day.
  
  The following year, Prince instilled Day as lead singer of The Time and got them a deal with his label, Warner Bros. The Time, which also included the master songwriter/producers Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, had hits with "Jungle Love" and "Jerk Out."
• The very funky "Partyup" is part of Prince's third album, Dirty Mind. As the title implies, some track on the album are NSFW, and Prince is posed provocatively on the cover wearing underwear, an open jacket, and a bandana. Some of the tracks were perfectly acceptable for radio though, including "Partyup" and the lead single, "Uptown." His next album, Controversy, continued his progression as a songwriter, producer and musician, and the one after that, 1999, made him a star.
• Prince performed this song on his first Saturday Night Live appearance, February 21, 1981.