---
title: "Fear"

meaning: "FEiN 2017: cutting into friends, golden door disgust: not afraid of you, terrified of your friends; fear is all I understand."

year: 2017
release: "Fear"
releaseType: "single"

artist: "FEiN"
artistId: "#fein"

coWriters: ["Brandon Michael Woodward"]
credits: "Written by Luke Francis Walton and Brandon Michael Woodward (FEiN). Produced and recorded at Tiny Giant Recording. Mixed and mastered by Frank Rosato."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/track/3Te0HmHKL9ElwcK71PfbHY"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/fear/1210648666?i=1210648903"

themes: ["FEiN", "fear", "immigration", "2017", "theatrical pop"]

isrc: TCACX1779781
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Cuttin' into my friends
  Coloring all the walls with them
  Gather all that I can
  Gather all that remains after the fall

  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them
  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them

  I'm not afraid of you
  It's only human to fear your cle-ea-ea-ea
  Oh, I'm not afraid of you
  I'm terrified of your friends and
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand

  Cut my way to the shore
  Put my hand on the golden door
  Native looks of disgust
  Pull it taught as they can to get me goin'

  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them
  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them

  I'm not afraid of you
  It's only human to fear your cle-ea-ea-ea
  Oh, I'm not afraid of you
  I'm terrified of your friends and
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand

  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them
  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them
  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them
  Ooh, get your dirty hands up
  Who're you to lay a hand on them

  Oh, I'm not afraid of you
  It's only human to fear your cle-ea-ea-ea
  Oh, I'm not afraid of you
  I'm terrified of your friends and
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand
  Fear is all I understand

draft: false

---

**FEiN** single (**2017**, ℗ Tiny Giant), co-written by **Luke Francis Walton** and **Brandon Michael Woodward**. Mixed and mastered by **[Frank Rosato](/with/frank-rosato/)**. Post-*Little Homes* 2017 cluster with [*LOVED*](/songs/loved/), [*It's Alright*](/songs/its-alright/), [*P.A.R.T.S.*](/songs/p-a-r-t-s/), and [*All Mine*](/songs/all-mine/).

The hook is a paradox: *I'm not afraid of you / I'm terrified of your friends*. Not the person, the network. Fear is the only fluency anyone has left here (*fear is all I understand*, stacked to a mantra), and the stretched *cle-ea-ea-ea* never resolves into a word.

The second verse pulls the title into immigration myth: *put my hand on the golden door / native looks of disgust*, the Statue of Liberty tableau turned hostile, the body pulled taut to expel it. Same register as [*American Man*](/songs/american-man/) and [*LOVED*](/songs/loved/), except here fear itself is the American product being sold back to you. It pairs with later [*Liminal*](/songs/liminal/) (*fear is not enough*) and [*Stupid Forever*](/songs/stupid-forever/).

---