Sam Fender debuted in 2018 with the EP Dead Boys, which included the single of the same name. “Dead Boys” was also included on Fender’s full-length debut, Hypersonic Missiles, although he has said he was hesitant to release it out of fear of being seen as capitalizing on tragedy or trying to be controversial. He changed his mind when he played it for his team and saw how much it resonated with them.
Fender has said “Dead Boys” is about suicide, toxic masculinity, and “the idea of what a man is supposed to be,” something which has affected him personally. The was also inspired in part by The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” which addresses the expectations around men expressing their emotions.
The Tragic True Story Behind “Dead Boys”
Fender wrote about the song and its inspiration for Another Man.
“I wrote ‘Dead Boys’ purely as a reaction to losing a friend to suicide,” Fender wrote. “It didn’t come immediately after, as it took a long time to process; if anything, it was a way for me to put it to bed. It’s a different kind of loss, so finding closure or understanding can be a lengthy and complicated phase. I spent a lot of time trying to understand how someone gets in to that headspace. The reality is you can’t understand. ‘Dead Boys’ is essentially about that feeling: the shock, the grief and the resolution.”
In “Dead Boys,” Fender sings about suicides in his hometown as a sort of epidemic that no one talks about.
We close our eyes
Learn our pain
Nobody ever could explain
All the dead boys in our hometown
In the second verse, Fender sings about how everyone has problems and everyone deals with them differently, whether that’s through openly discussing them or keeping it to themselves. The verse also addresses the tendency for people in his hometown to drown their sorrows with alcohol.
We all tussle with the black dog
Some out loud and some in silence
Everybody ’round here just drink
‘Cause that’s our culture
In his writing for Another Man, Fender also discussed his hope that the song might help even a single person.
“For me, that’s the best thing I could have ever hoped for after writing the song,” he wrote. “I always said that if one person talks or opens up about their problems, then this has done more than I could ever have wished for.”
Fender’s hope has become reality—a man was intended to kill himself heard “Dead Boys” on the radio and decided to get help.
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