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 Sri Lanka and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar 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 Jandek to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All DNA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a theremin 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 clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Surgeon,
Nirvana,
The Smiths,
Altered Images,
The Blues Magoos,
Jeff Lynne,
The Angels of Light,
Marine Girls,
Vladislav Delay,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Cowsills,
Scientists,
Wire,
Spandau Ballet,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Urselle,
John Coltrane,
Tomorrow,
The Misunderstood,
Newcleus,
David Bowie,
Pole,
Q and Not U,
Fear,
Neu!,
The Stooges,
June Days,
Mars,
X-101,
Soft Cell,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Sheep,
Shuggie Otis,
Warren Ellis,
Drexciya,
Marc Almond,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Anakelly,
Barbara Tucker,
Harry Pussy,
In Retrospect,
Rekid,
Gang of Four,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Excepter,
Joey Negro,
Judy Mowatt,
James White and The Blacks,
Radiohead,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Remains,
Unwound,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Roy Ayers,
June of 44, June of 44, June of 44, June of 44.
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.