Panic! At The Disco: The Meaning

9. But It's Better If You Do

  In this song, the narrator is at a strip club wishing that he didn't have to be there because of loneliness. 

 In the video , a man goes to a strip club without the knowledge of his wife. He then discovers that his wife is actually a stripper.

  This song comes right after the intermission of the album. It is at this song that the sound of the album transitions from a lively electronic vibe into more of an old-fashioned cabaret feeling. The change is significant because the music from this point on is, in a literal sense, stripped down. 

  Now I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabaret
Somewhere downtown where a burlesque queen may even ask my name
As she sheds her skin on stage
I'm seated and sweating to a dance song on the club's P.A.
The strip joint veteran sits two away
Smirking between dignified sips of his dignified peach and lime daiquiri  

Brendon Urie: I had never been to a burlesque show. We were so infatuated with Victorian imagery, early 1900s stuff, and like a burlesque show seemed so cool—all the Vaudeville shit. I don't even think any of us had been to a strip club when we wrote this song.

The first time I went to a strip club, I walked in and saw this one girl, Kelsey, who I went to elementary school with. Instant blast from the past, all these memories flooded back to me. I was like, 'Kelsey?' She was like, 'Brendon? Holy shit. I am going to dance to one of your songs.' And she danced to "But It's Better If You Do." It was awesome.

  And isn't this exactly where you'd like me
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know  

The narrator wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, or at the very least have her believe that he has moved on, by spending his night in a strip club. He doesn't actually enjoy being there, but he wants to spite her.

It's also possible that the girl knows that he doesn't really want to be there, and she's happy to see that she's left him alone and searching for love.

 Praying for love in a lap dance and paying in naivety

The narrator is down on his luck in the romance department, and wants to find something to fill the gap he feels. Being so young, he isn't the most experienced, so he turns to something easy-to-find and not as deeply emotional: sexual attraction.

"Paying in naivety" is probably a play on the idea that sex takes away someone's innocence. It could also refer to the fact that he's pretty much cheating on his current girlfriend, which is a sin  that he's now committed.

A similar situation is shown in the movie Closer  which was the source of the song's title. In the film, a man loves a woman but he's still missing something. He goes to a strip-club hoping to find what he's looking for and literally tries to find love in a lap dance.

Oh, but I'm afraid that IWell, I may have faked it andI wouldn't be caught dead dead dead dead in this placeWell I'm afraid that IWell that's rightThat I may have faked it andI wouldn't be caught dead in this place

  The narrator doesn't really want to be in the strip club. He feels that he does not belong there. He was only trying to tempt her by making her jealous, but it backfired and he's taking it all back. Even though he isn't enjoying himself, he refuses to leave because he feels as though he must stay in order to prove to himself, his ex, and the rest of the world that he isn't just there because he's hit a new low after his breakup.  

Ryan Ross: It's based on a scenario when I was going through a breakup with a girl, and I was in one of these clubs but wishing I didn't have to be. Because in reality, I don't like strip clubs. I think they're kind of ecch.