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 Madagascar and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the dance 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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blues Magoos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 808 and a spring reverb 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 marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ice-T,
Duran Duran,
Radiohead,
Livin' Joy,
Public Enemy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Scrapy,
David McCallum,
F. McDonald,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Fall,
the Soft Cell,
Unwound,
Model 500,
LL Cool J,
Sixth Finger,
Nas,
The Fortunes,
Traffic Nightmare,
A Certain Ratio,
Brick,
Gang of Four,
The Divine Comedy,
Byron Stingily,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Scion,
The United States of America,
DJ Style,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Flipper,
Donny Hathaway,
Roxette,
Pierre Henry,
Eve St. Jones,
Morten Harket,
The Modern Lovers,
Piero Umiliani,
The Slits,
China Crisis,
Rites of Spring,
Buzzcocks,
The Music Machine,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Thompson Twins,
Black Moon,
AZ,
The Shadows of Knight,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bluetip,
The Young Rascals,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Cybotron,
This Heat,
Robert Hood,
Tommy Roe,
Crispian St. Peters,
Harry Pussy,
X-101,
Man Eating Sloth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Black Dice,
Wolf Eyes,
Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo.
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.