"Garden Party", subtitled "The Great Cucumber Massacre" is one of the most important songs by Marillion in the definition process of their own style in the early '80s. It is also one of their first singles to enter the charts, kind of a passport to fame. It's a strange song, featuring an up tempo chorus and a down tempo verse, sung by Fish in two very different tones: mellifluous and aggressive. The lyrics attack in a very direct way some British upper class habits and the funny official video of the song actually depicts an irreverent raid on the spot of a fashionable party.
While the 12" single featured the album version of the song,
the 7" version was heavily edited (4:35 minutes instead of 7:15)
This song greatly contributed to launch the prog revival of the '80s, showing how much this kind of rock could be sharp and energetic, something the punk generation seemed to ignore till then. And in fact, the album version of "Garden Party" also contained the four letter word f***ing, decorously replaced by miming in the single edit, so that all the radios could accept it. The sign of the times, one would say.
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