Prosody

March 4th, 2007

LONG DISTANCE

1. Long Distance (2:48)
2. New Leaf (3:43)
3. Charity (2:52)
4. Throwing It All Away (3:18)
5. Where the Silence Is (2:52)
6. Break the Silence (3:28)
7. Leaving Song (2:40)
8. Decayed (3:37)
9. Sky Lights (3:33)
10. Beeman (1:01)

All songs written and performed by James Newton, except: Beeman, lyrics by Chris Day, music by James Newton. Production on New Leaf by Jim Parker; electric and acoustic guitar on New Leaf by Jim Parker. Drums by Stu Watson.

The full-length debut album from Prosody is here and available as a free download to everyone! Originally released in a very short run of hand-made copies in August and September 2005, Long Distance contains ten songs (with one secret track floating around the world somewhere…) written and performed by James Newton under the name Prosody.

How the album started.

After finishing my first year at Uni I decided I wanted to buy a guitar, and that I should use my summer off to write a really great, fun summer-pop album. Of course by that point I’d never written a song in my life, but that wasn’t going to stop me, was it?

I wrote my first song for Long Distance in November of that year - Charity, the third track here. It actually came out of me bemoaning the fact I didn’t know what to write about - “I don’t see myself as anything more than I am” was an off-hand comment to a friend over IM that grew into my first proper song.

Ideas for songs came in fits and starts, but they were always exciting to work on and shape. I remember stealing the chords for New Leaf from my good friend Jim and thinking they would sound good on an acoustic - lo and behold, they did! I remember I actually recorded them in the summer but it took me a while to get some lyrics, which were inspired by something I read about how to write a song - it said something like “songs get under your skin - they get in through cuts”, which I largely stole, actually.

The rest of the songs came together over the next two years or so. Eventually I got so bored of sitting on them I set up my new PC and dragged every piece of musical equipment I could find into my room. The recordings are a little rough and ready, but I think it was the right time to put them to bed.

You can listen to my instrumental James Newton songs here, or keep scrolling down to read the complete Long Distance lyrics.

Long Distance

Look at us now, torn apart
But together all the same somehow.
This for us is a new start
We’re closer than ever now.

You were so far away,
Something I have always wanted to say
Is when you cry look towards the time
When we’ll be together every day.

This is one journey I don’t want to end.

Where do you see this going?
Where will we go from here?
There’s never any true way of knowing,
But what we want was never so near.

Though now I’m so far away,
Things won’t always be this way.
Lift your eyes, push them up to the skies,
We share in all that beauty every day.

This is one journey I don’t want to end.
This is one journey that won’t ever end.

New Leaf

I’m in need of repair
My body is shattered,
My heart is scattered,
Here and there, don’t know where.
Inside out for too long,
Waiting for a feeling,
I’m waiting for healing,
I’m hanging on.

I’m waiting for a new life,
Strange as it sounds I want to go under the knife.
I feel like I should be terrified,
But not with you by my side.

You got under my skin,
You came in through a cut
And you sowed my skin together,
No longer under the weather.
Black and blue fade out,
Wounds are all repaired,
I’m still amazed that
Someone cared, you cared.

I’ve turned over a new leaf,
So this is what it feels like to breathe.
You bring me
You bring me relief.

Charity

I don’t see myself as anything more than I am
Without you I can’t see all the good you see in me.
So why do you give all you have to me?
You know I love your charity.

I can’t hear myself, all my words just let me down.
But you see through my wrongs to find the good in me.
So I slide away in search of peace,
That’s where I find your charity.

And I feel our life
Is slipping away from me
And all I see
Is you
You’re drifting away.

I don’t feel like myself any time when you’re not near.
I know our day will soon come, but that won’t chase away this fear.
So why?

I feel our life
Is slipping away from me
And all I see
Is you
You’re drifting away.

You know I love your charity.
You know I love your charity.

Throwing It All Away

You came to me without warning,
You turned midnight to morning.
I was so eager to be yours,
To have someone to sail the same course.

I thought that I could do no wrong,
You were all I’d wanted for so long.
But I’m not the perfect one
Out of the two of us.

This is what I’ve waited for all my days,
So why does it feel like I’m throwing it all away?
I’m throwing it all away every day.

I’d tell you all of my mistakes
If I had the courage it takes.
But every time I get near,
I’m hit with fear and step on the brakes.

I tried to work out where I went wrong
I thought I’d find the answers in a song.
I’ll never be the perfect one
Out of the two of us.

This is what I’ve waited for all my days,
So why does it feel like I’m throwing it all away?
Throwing it all away every day.
Throwing it all away every day.

Where the Silence Is

I can’t sleep some nights,
My eyes crave images and light.
Distractions invade my mind,
Colours, thoughts and shapes of every kind.

So I go to where the darkness is.

At night my mind is full of sounds,
Rushing winds, fat rain and crying hounds.
I explore the world through the noises in my head,
Until my thoughts turn to quietness instead.

So I go to where the silence is,
And when I’m there, you’re what I miss.
So I go to where the silence is,
And when I’m there, you’re what I miss.
Where the silence is.

Break the Silence

Five hours have passed
Since I last heard
A simple “thanks”,
An empty word.
Since six o’clock
My ears have been numb,
There’s a fear here
I just can’t overcome.

My belly, chest and head
All sting.
My heart and soul
Explode and sing.

Break the silence,
Break the silence.

One word says love,
But it doesn’t say it loud enough.
This demon draws and sucks
The warmth right out of us.
This black surprise
Now has its nails in you.
We’ll fight it off together,
We’ll come through.

If you break the silence.
Break the silence.
Break the silence,
Break the silence.

Leaving Song

If there’s one thing I want,
It’s to have you in body, not in font.
I’ve built up my substitutes,
I wheel them out for comfort when it suits.

Yesterday was just another day spent waiting,
Yesterday was the day that we let fate in.

Another day age goes by,
It’s the one thing between us and our life.
Time is all we have but it’s fleeting,
It keeps us apart, stops us meeting.

Yesterday was just another day spent waiting,
This is wasted time, it’s so frustrating

Decayed

They say you don’t know
How hard it’ll hit you.
But take it from me,
There’s no escape once it’s bit you.
You move around in a place of no sound
Looking for comfort but there’s none to be found.
Got to look above to find
Someone that you love.

I wonder what you would say
If you’d not run away that day.
I wonder what you would be.
Would you be anything like me?

Even now I’m still hiding
From what I want to say.
Trying to write ten years in a three minute song,
Can’t do it, no way.
Take a deep breath.
I’ve got something to say,
And you’re not getting away this time.

I wonder what you would say
If you’d not run away that day.
I wonder what you would be.
If you’d be anything like me.