Sleepyhead

Sleepyhead began as a track called A Nice Glow from Mark. As the title suggests it was a gentle chord sequence of warm synth patches. But as so often happens with Mark there is a sinister edge somehow. I couldn’t identify what it was, but I have long thought of Mark as the Vincent Price of the band. It feels like the incidental music is relaxing you just before the big jump scare. The sounds suggested a lullaby, so the title came easily, and so did the chorus. Although it changes speed and goes from 4 to 3, and also from minor to major, big changes that took a while to make work. The chorus was a pleasant but unsurprising sequence and I wondered where it might have come from. Turns out it was the chords to the theme tune of Last Of The Summer Wine. I would of course apologise to Ronnie Hazlehurst if he hadn’t stolen it himself from Mozart. Probably. Oh and of course they are both in the same place now so it’s too late for apologies anyway.

The lyrics were a description of various kinds of dysfunctional masculinity. Some of which may or may not apply to me. US Ted Talk heroine Brené Brown talks about looking down at your pre-school child with the warmest feelings of love in your heart as they sleep. And then that sudden sense of foreboding. Imagining how terrible it would be if they were to come to harm. Knocked over by a bus. Stabbed outside the cinema in an argument with older boys. Whatever. The list goes on. And then I thought about the fact that the biggest cause of death in males aged under 50 is suicide. I have two boys. We teach them to look both ways crossing the road but it’s hard to protect them from this single cause. I think kids learn most by our example. But it’s hard to give your kids something you never had yourself. How do I break the cycle? I guess that’s a different song…

Image by Kristijan Puljek from Pixabay