Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Turkmenistan and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Panda Bear to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Howard Jones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Eric Dolphy,
The Motions,
Soft Cell,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eve St. Jones,
the Germs,
Echospace,
Mars,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Saints,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Sonics,
The Grass Roots,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Au Pairs,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Judy Mowatt,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Khruangbin,
Flipper,
Harmonia,
Robert Görl,
Tres Demented,
Schoolly D,
Brass Construction,
Erasure,
Connie Case,
Pantaleimon,
Panda Bear,
Girls At Our Best!,
the Sonics,
Bronski Beat,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Human League,
The Fugs,
the Slits,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Supertramp,
Glambeats Corp.,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pantytec,
Circle Jerks,
Eurythmics,
Chrome,
The Leaves,
Depeche Mode,
Joe Finger,
Matthew Bourne,
The Techniques,
Mark Hollis,
Rotary Connection,
Gang Gang Dance,
Marshall Jefferson,
Maleditus Sound,
These Immortal Souls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Royal Trux,
Slick Rick,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.