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 Algeria and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Vaughan Mason & Crew to the disco 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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Major Organ And The Adding Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABC record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a clarinet 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 chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Funkadelic,
Alton Ellis,
Faraquet,
Gang Gang Dance,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Moody Blues,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Cybotron,
Joey Negro,
Sam Rivers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bill Wells,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Throbbing Gristle,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
David Bowie,
Swans,
Rapeman,
Cheater Slicks,
Symarip,
Soulsonic Force,
Alphaville,
FM Einheit,
Crispian St. Peters,
Youth Brigade,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Mandrill,
Harry Pussy,
Ituana,
Second Layer,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Delta 5,
Skarface,
Joensuu 1685,
Laurel Aitken,
The Martian,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Howard Jones,
the Soft Cell,
Piero Umiliani,
Quadrant,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Hashim,
This Heat,
The Leaves,
Public Enemy,
Ken Boothe,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Music Machine,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Evens,
China Crisis,
Jeru the Damaja,
Radiopuhelimet,
Lalann,
Excepter,
The Smoke,
Camberwell Now,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.