Getting Started

Sam Fender's parents split up when he was 8. At first he lived with his father, but when his stepmother kicked him out, he moved back in with his mum. She suffered from fibromyalgia, which affected her mental health and her ability to work. Here, the acerbic troubadour recalls being 18 and wanting to get on his with his life, only to return home and find his mother in turmoil. "'Getting Started' is about a conversation between us," Fender told Apple Music. "Me going like, 'This is s--t, but I need to just be a kid, to go out and live my life. I've just turned 18. I want to go out to the pub, to see my mates.' I needed my escapism."

During the first verse, Fender admits to earning much-needed cash from some shady characters. When you're out of luck and your mother's in need I made my money for the crooks and pushers In the hopes that I claw somethin' together for tonight When Fender was 18, he had a job that led to him mixing with some charming but rather suspect people. "They ended up disappearing and getting charged for things," he told The Guardian, "but I wasn't involved in anything illicit, I was on the sidelines."

I came home and you were on the floor Floored by the letters and the council rigmarole What I wouldn't do to get you out this hole During the second verse, Fender describes finding his mother overwhelmed by all the paperwork she needed to complete in order to get support from the local council and the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions). The stories he tells in the song are personal to him, but his mum's frustration with the DWP is universal. "How you're trapped as a person who's fallen on a hard time by your government," Fender said, "is a unanimous story for so many millions of people in this country."