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 Sierra Leone and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Letta Mbulu to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Janne Schatter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lightning Bolt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 guitar and an oboe 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 rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Graham Central Station,
The Five Americans,
Leonard Cohen,
Kevin Saunderson,
Patti Smith,
Amon Düül II,
Pharoah Sanders,
Wally Richardson,
Isaac Hayes,
Mandrill,
OOIOO,
Public Image Ltd.,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Albert Ayler,
Swans,
New Order,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Angels of Light,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bauhaus,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Victims,
The Modern Lovers,
Barry Ungar,
Sex Pistols,
Rites of Spring,
Fela Kuti,
Wings,
Shuggie Otis,
Outsiders,
The Music Machine,
Girls At Our Best!,
Fluxion,
Johnny Osbourne,
Heaven 17,
Grandmaster Flash,
Rufus Thomas,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lower 48,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Ken Boothe,
Don Cherry,
Newcleus,
Babytalk,
Archie Shepp,
Mary Jane Girls,
John Foxx,
Tears for Fears,
Chris Corsano,
Lucky Dragons,
Eve St. Jones,
Liliput,
Quando Quango,
Section 25,
Roger Hodgson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Rotary Connection,
Groovy Waters,
Arcadia,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice.
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.