Jon Newby
Tired Of Dancing
About Jon Newby
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have music in my head or was singing to myself. Aged seven I joined a church choir, scraped away on violin and took piano lessons. At fourteen, new friends introduced me to Yes, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin etc. We formed our own band. I was singer and guitarist, one snag, none of us owned or played an instrument!
I bought a guitar! Picked up “Play in a Day”. Revise for O levels or play guitar? Band duly formed!
After a couple of years wowing audiences in that hotbed of cutting edge new music, rural Lincolnshire, my songwriting partner and I are spotted. Our band “Still Life” sign a management deal soon followed by a recording deal.
Our single “Away From this Town” get’s a great review on Radio 1’s Round Table! Airplay follows! We’re supporting Culture Club! Even my mum’s listening to the radio! We’re pop stars now! Aren’t we?
Two years later I’m unemployed and back in Lincolnshire. I continue writing and recording songs and playing in all sorts of bands. I get married, raise a family and build my own guitar tuition business.
I think I write songs and play in bands not because I want to, but because I have to, like an itch that must be scratched. So this year I entered a songwriting competition for the over 50s. As the competition drew to a close, I received a message from another contestant saying he was setting up a facebook group called “Scared Hitless” and was looking to release an album of original songs and would I like to join. I duly did, and can only say what a fabulous journey we’re on and what wonderful camaraderie we seem to have found.
The music created by the members of this group is, quite frankly stunning, and at times I find I’m pinching myself wondering how I got here among such a talented group of songwriters and musicians. I hope people get to hear and enjoy the album “Late Night Flying”, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed.
Tired Of Dancing - LYRICS
Funny how the night can play tricks on you
Changing things I thought I knew
But when we kissed and when we touched
We were like strangers
Falling in love
I’m tired of dancing
Turn my back on the crowded room
I’m tired of dancing
All I wanna be is with you
Heaven help the lost and the lonely
Trapped inside their noisy worlds
They can dance and they can shout
But they can’t catch us
Falling in love
I’m tired of dancing
Turn my back on the crowded room
I’m tired of dancing
All I wanna be is with you
Standing so still see the shape of a dancer
Everything moving so slow
Shadows and silhouettes slip sliding pass her
Moving with nowhere to go
Falling in love
Funny how the night can play tricks on you
Changing things I thought I knew
But when we kissed and when we touched
We were like strangers
Falling in love
I’m tired of dancing
Turn my back on the crowded room
I’m tired of dancing
All I wanna be is with you
I’m tired of dancing
Turn our backs on the crowded room
I’m tired of dancing
All I wanna be is with you
Wanna be with you
Just you
The Story Behind The Song
This song was written in 1981. My writing partner Ian and I didn’t have any recording equipment of our own so we were really excited when an older more established musician offered us the use of his for an evening. His gear was a 4 track reel-to-reel tape recorder, electric piano, and bass guitar along with a newfangled semi-programable drum machine and echo and reverb effects. For some reason I set the drums to play in 3/4, picked up the bass and played three repeating notes on it. While I was experimenting Ian was scribbling down some lyrical ideas. I settled on my drum and bass parts and recorded them, then added a piano part. By this time Ian had lyrics for a verse and chorus so I tried singing a few ideas. When I was ready to record the vocal Ian had finished writing the second verse. With the bones of the song finished I added a weird guitar harmonics track and a guitar part for the chorus. The whole process took around 35 mins and it’s probably the quickest and easiest song we ever wrote.
A year later along with a couple of other songs it was recorded by us as “Still Life”, at EMI’s Manchester Square Studios. EMI didn’t sign us but Regard Records did. Always seen as the “third” single our deal didn’t last long enough to see it released.
Over the years there have been several revisits to the song. The verses of the song have changed from the initial ”Pretty Julie’s gone quite crazy, I think her mind is somewhere else, ………..”. A strange section after the each chorus was removed, and a middle 8 section added. The whole of tune and the chorus lyrics have remained basically unaltered. The ensuing arrangements of the song moved away from the original’s strangeness.
Fast forward to 2021. Don’t know if it was the strange times we found ourselves in, but while re-working the song as an entry to the song competition, some of the strange vibes of the original song re-emerged and is what you hear now on the Late Night Flying album.