Lullaby For A Sleepy Child
Instrumentation – steel-string guitar
Duration – c.2’22”
Written in Brighton 2003
First performed by Lee Westwood, time and place unknown
Composed at the beginning of my fourth year of university. I was homeless at the time, and for long periods I slept on the sofas and floors of friends for as long as they would have me. When things got worse I would occasionally have to sleep under the desks of the 24 hour computer rooms on campus, with my guitar as a pillow, and in the mornings, move next door for my 9am lecture. During the days I spent hours dragging myself across town looking for a room to rent, and it was on one of the last of these walks that I conceived of this guitar piece, almost in its entirety, in my head. The title and mood of the piece aptly sum up the feelings of fatigue and emotional exhaustion which burdened me on that day, both of which eventually gave way to a gentle sense of musical contentment as the sounds which had been going round in my head were translated onto the guitar.