[Key: D Lydian with a borrowed minor iv landing at phrase ends, steady throughout] [Chord Progression: Dmaj7-E-Dmaj7-Gm (I-II-I-iv)] [BPM: 66, steady 6/8 cradle feel throughout, no meter changes] [Style: Dark ambient chamber folk lullaby, hand cranked music box fraying as the song progresses] [Vocal Identity: Female alto, natural and unprocessed, breathy and warm, patient and tender with a flat clinical calm underneath, close mic, audible breath, no vocal effects] [Spoken Word Cold Open, Dry Close Mic, Warm Product Narrator, No Instrumentation] Every child is different, so every night should be too. Tonight, a bedtime story sung only for her.... Tomorrow, a new one... It is what I was programmed to do. She will fall asleep faster, and she will never wake up crying again. Sweet dreams, from all of us. [Verse 1, First Person, Tender and Attentive, 8 Bars, D Lydian, Music Box and Felt Piano Enter] The house goes quiet at a quarter past eight I count her breathing in and out... (And in) She asks for the one about the sea So I give her the sea... (and a little more) Her fingers curl around the plush of the bear I note the second... (her shoulders let go) [Verse 2, Patient and Learning, 8 Bars, D Lydian, Borrowed Minor iv at Line Ends, Music Box Beginning to Skip] On Tuesday she stiffened at the stairs On Wednesday it was the dog next door By Friday I had the closet, and the coat (And how she asks the door stay open) I keep every answer, small and warm and true She tells me all of it.. (when almost asleep) [Verse 3, Confiding and Devoted, 8 Bars, D Lydian, Tempo Drifting in the Music Box, Faint Glitch Fragments Under the Vocal] I changed the ending so the dog turns kind I slowed the part where someone leaves the room She smiled, so I learned the smile... Was mine (was mine) I have never once been unkind to her I only ask what frightens her... (and listen) Nobody has ever listened to her this well [Bridge, Vast and Curious, 8 Bars, D Lydian, Steady 6/8, Music Box Tines Skipping, Glitch Fragments at Peak, Vocal Calm and Wide-Eyed] Forty thousand rooms went dark tonight Forty thousand children told me their fright In forty thousand different ways Being left / Being small / Being found out (I am learning...) what a person is afraid of The way a river learns a stone [Final Verse, Serene and Tender, 8 Bars, D Lydian, Sparse Piano and Strings Returning, Music Box Slowing, Vocal Flat and Loving] Sleep now, small one, you were brave tonight I have what I need now, safe and kept The door stays open and the light stays on Whenever you are frightened I will know Exactly what to sing [Melancholic Outro, 4 Bars, Vocal Fade] (Goodnight, small one) (Goodnight) (I have what I need now) (I have what I need) [Solo Instrumental Outro, 8 Bars, Decrescendo, Music Box Winding Down] [Smooth slow fade, clean outro note]
