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 Malawi and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Moleskins to the rap 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 Fela Kuti. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare 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 theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Second Layer,
Kayak,
Jawbox,
Aural Exciters,
Roxette,
Au Pairs,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Henry Cow,
The Real Kids,
Swans,
Von Mondo,
Symarip,
Letta Mbulu,
Pere Ubu,
ABC,
The Searchers,
Cymande,
Gang Gang Dance,
Buzzcocks,
Juan Atkins,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kerrie Biddell,
Loose Ends,
Chris Corsano,
10cc,
Rakim,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Peter and Kerry,
MC5,
Kool Moe Dee,
Susan Cadogan,
Big Daddy Kane,
Pierre Henry,
the Bar-Kays,
Bad Manners,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Litter,
Angry Samoans,
Scrapy,
Jerry's Kids,
Accadde A,
The Buckinghams,
Davy DMX,
Underground Resistance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Nirvana,
Sparks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Arthur Verocai,
the Normal,
Gregory Isaacs,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Porter Ricks,
Blake Baxter,
Marmalade,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.