Miles Away (song)

"Miles Away" is a song by John Foxx, released as a single in October 1980. It was his fourth solo single, following "Burning Car" in July that year. The track was not included on any original album, falling roughly midway between the release of Foxx's debut LP Metamatic in January 1980 and his second album The Garden in September 1981.

Sonically, as well as chronologically, "Miles Away" was a transitional song in Foxx’s catalogue, its instrumentation being heavy with synthesizers, as in previous solo releases, but also featuring the acoustic drum sound that would characterise his remaining 1980s work. No detail on the electronics used in the song appeared on the original single's sleeve, however Foxx's studio equipment at the time included an ARP Odyssey, a Minimoog, an Elka 'String Machine', and an ARP Analog Sequencer.

The fanfare-like synthesizer lines of "Miles Away" were reminiscent of the track "Slow Motion" which opened the album Systems of Romance, Foxx's last with former band Ultravox. Regarding the song's title and subject matter, Foxx said "You know when you're looking out of a window or you're not quite present, you know you're with someone but your mind is on something else, and that is quite often my state of mind I think, so I decided to write a song about it."^[1]

The lyrics and cover photograph also appear to reference 'The Quiet Man', an alternate character developed by Foxx in the late 1970s that personified detachment and observation ("I'm a new man when I walk away"). Foxx has described The Quiet Man as habitually wearing a nondescript grey suit that he (Foxx) found in an Oxfam shop. The picture sleeve of "Miles Away" depicts just such a "grey suit, white shirt and dark tie",^[2] arranged across a lounge chair.

The B-side, "A Long Time", was written and performed with Shake Shake, a group comprising Duncan Bridgeman and Jo Dworniak,^[3] along with Philip Roberts, all of whom would appear on Foxx’s next album, The Garden. The track's psychedelic flavour foreshadowed Foxx's The Golden Section (1983).

The single made #51 in the UK charts in 1980. "Miles Away" appears on the 1993 and 2001 reissues of Metamatic and on the John Foxx compilation Modern Art (2001). "A Long Time" appears on the 1993 reissue of Metamatic and the 2001 edition of The Garden.