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 Barbados and from Lille.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Cal Tjader to the rap 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All Crash Course in Science tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro 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 güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lyres,
Swans,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Gories,
Bill Near,
Yaz,
Scan 7,
Lee Hazlewood,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grey Daturas,
The Standells,
Todd Rundgren,
Roy Ayers,
Danielle Patucci,
Tomorrow,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ituana,
Neu!,
Lindisfarne,
Rotary Connection,
Slave,
Black Flag,
The Residents,
A Certain Ratio,
Wally Richardson,
Ohio Players,
FM Einheit,
Soul II Soul,
ABC,
Black Moon,
Franke,
Funky Four + One,
Don Cherry,
The Electric Prunes,
The Barracudas,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Essential Logic,
Junior Murvin,
Chris Corsano,
Groovy Waters,
The Gun Club,
The Dead C,
Avey Tare,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Toni Rubio,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Charles Mingus,
The Shadows of Knight,
Thee Headcoats,
Frankie Knuckles,
Rod Modell,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jerry Gold Smith,
48th St. Collective,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Howard Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Marmalade,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.