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 San Marino and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Janne Schatter to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All Zapp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar 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 oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Invisible,
Metal Thangz,
Television,
The Toasters,
Bootsy Collins,
Andrew Hill,
The Happenings,
Minutemen,
Roxy Music,
Tomorrow,
The Velvet Underground,
The Buckinghams,
Kenny Larkin,
The Fugs,
The Human League,
Desert Stars,
The Cramps,
Marine Girls,
Minny Pops,
Danielle Patucci,
Jacob Miller,
Thompson Twins,
Wally Richardson,
New Age Steppers,
Letta Mbulu,
Maleditus Sound,
Black Flag,
Ornette Coleman,
Essential Logic,
The Names,
Lalann,
Cheater Slicks,
Trumans Water,
Dual Sessions,
Swans,
Girls At Our Best!,
Flamin' Groovies,
Albert Ayler,
Eurythmics,
Bluetip,
Unwound,
Sight & Sound,
The Selecter,
Simply Red,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scrapy,
Nils Olav,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Masters at Work,
Q and Not U,
Outsiders,
Excepter,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Radio Birdman,
LL Cool J,
Wolf Eyes,
Sixth Finger,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
CMW,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Bar-Kays,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.