What is Purple Steeple about?

Purple Steeple is the second song on my new EP 'Modern Life is Lies'.

Buy it here: https://websheldon.bandcamp.com/track/purple-steeple

Music has always been running through the inner most part of me. It consoles me when I am down, it motivates me, encourages me, and makes the best days even better.  In 2014 though, I decided to take things a little more seriously and I quit my job to attend Point Blank Music School in London and be taught by professionals how to produce music.

It was at the same time that I started meditating. Part of this practice can include taking note of the thoughts running through your head and being aware of what you're thinking, and not just letting your mind run away with itself. I started to find this useful to control my thoughts a bit more.

A few months later I found myself walking through the London underground tube and instead of being caught up in the all the rush and stress of everyone else speeding their way through the walkways, I started to chill, observe what was around me, what was happening. I noticed the smell of the underground, something that I used to love when I came to London as a tourist. I noticed the different decorations on the walls, the old stations, the new ones... It made me realise how powerful the mind is and how much control we have over how we feel and react to something.

I remember a time during the summer of 2006, I was working in Manchester and we were in the middle of an amazing heatwave. During lunches, I used to go out to these dis-used tennis courts and just sit in the sun for 30 minutes, against a wall, and think about... nothing. I was so relaxed, and it came so naturally because I wasn't even trying. I realised this was a time I'd kind of meditated before I even knew what it was.

There's a link between heat and feeling relaxed too... I remember in 2004, I used to be a cleaner in a supermarket from 5am till 8am and then go to a reception job from 9 until 4. By 4:30pm, I would already be home and laid on my bed, in the spot where the sun came through the window every day, and I'd sleep for half an hour. I would wake up feeling super relaxed. When I sing, 'I feel the sun in my sleep', I'm really thinking about that moment.

For the rest of the song though, it's really about my love of the city, how the energy can either drain you or feed you - and it's really up to you how you react to it. It's how you can be surrounded by the craziness, and by hundreds of stressful people, yet you don't have to be sucked in and feel part of that stress, you can just take a step back, and observe, and enjoy that moment in life for what it is. Maybe smile at someone who looks like they're having a bad day. There's often a lot of people who looks like that on the tube.

Lyrics:
I feel the sun in my sleep
I feel the sun, I feel the heat

I’m gon' be alive, when I feel my
Mind free, get free, lost in the people
I’m gon' feel alive when I rake my
Seeds from the flowers of the purple steeple

Every time you say your truth
You grow a little inside

Mmmm slow motion
Bathing in the ocean
Of the people and the laughter
In the streets

Mmmm slow motion
Mmmm calm in the commotion
Drinks, rocks and
Harmonies and feet

While I recharge
Somethings goin' down in the city
I need this time
To cleanse my soul

While I recharge
People are spinning 'round in the city
We need this time
To feel worthwhile

When I wake up
I’m walking down to the city
I feel the waves
Washing over me

When I wake up
I’ll be venturing through the city
I wanna feel the life
It makes me feel alive inside

I’m gon' be alive, when i feel my
Mind free, get free, lost in the people
I’m gon' feel alive when i rake my
Seeds from the flowers of the purple steeple

Every time you say your truth
You grow a little inside


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Credits:
from Modern Life Is Lies, released May 20, 2016
Written, performed and produced by Web Sheldon.
Mastered by Nick Burchall of Audio Animals.