Sale of the Century by Sleeper

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

We’ve been doing quite a bit of driving around this summer which has meant plenty of time to listen to Absolute 90’s radio. I love listening to songs from that era, it brings back so many great memories. I think one of the differences though is that now as I listen to them twenty-odd years on I hear and appreciate more of the lyrics.

Take, for example, Sale of the Century by Sleeper. I remember seeing the band back in the mid-90’s live. This was just one of their many catchy Britpop anthems. But now I listen again there’s some intriguing ideas at play:

We step through London, the streets holding on to us.

Reflecting on this now with my experience as a life coach and former probation officer I can see the truth of this lyric. Where we are, both geographically and relationally, shapes and forms who we are. This usual has positive effects of helping us to make sense of ourselves but can also limit our perspectives to only see what the other people we mix with see. I’ve discovered a big part of coaching is helping people to break through these boundaries of the limits set by the expectations we have had placed on us, or imposed by ourselves, as a result of where we have come from.

This self-location also provides us with a degree of security. We know what we are getting, even if we don’t think it’s that great. For many, this certainty of being OK often outweighs the uncertainty of things potentially being great. I think this is what Louise Wener is thinking about when she sings:

It’s never gonna be this good so just climb in. How long till reason makes us small again?

For us to step out of the known will often involve us taking a step beyond the security and logical reason of what we already know. This requires us to be bold:

We turn to be scared, then decide that we don’t care.

For us to break beyond the mould, we need to commit ourselves to staring down our fears and continuing regardless. When we do this, we have the opportunity to experience something great.

Want something more from life? Why not consider booking an appointment with the author, Dr Dave Wood?

Sale of the Century features on the album The It Girl by Sleeper: