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 Gambia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Chris Corsano to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Detroit Cobras. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alphaville 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes 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 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
the Human League,
Delta 5,
Minnie Riperton,
Malaria!,
Dark Day,
Sam Rivers,
the Bar-Kays,
Brass Construction,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Television Personalities,
the Normal,
Lee Hazlewood,
Minutemen,
The Wake,
Pet Shop Boys,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Shuggie Otis,
Gichy Dan,
Trumans Water,
John Foxx,
The Toasters,
The Fuzztones,
Rosa Yemen,
Oneida,
Crooked Eye,
Gabor Szabo,
Roxette,
Ash Ra Tempel,
London Community Gospel Choir,
X-102,
The Mojo Men,
Alphaville,
Stereo Dub,
New York Dolls,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Fatback Band,
Godley & Creme,
Tim Buckley,
The Motions,
Roy Ayers,
Y Pants,
Mad Mike,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Shoche,
Black Bananas,
Lou Reed,
EPMD,
The Kinks,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Neil Young,
Anakelly,
Tubeway Army,
Matthew Halsall,
The Gladiators,
Model 500,
Rotary Connection,
The Music Machine,
Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force.
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.