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 Honduras and from New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 808 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 Talk Talk to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ 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 guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Arthur Verocai,
Camouflage,
Quadrant,
Amon Düül,
Gong,
Suburban Knight,
Desert Stars,
Terrestrial Tones,
Chrome,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Susan Cadogan,
Ronan,
Q and Not U,
The Blues Magoos,
The Shadows of Knight,
MC5,
Massinfluence,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Duran Duran,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Techniques,
Make Up,
Quantec,
Freddie Wadling,
Aural Exciters,
The Flesh Eaters,
Robert Görl,
Maleditus Sound,
The Wake,
Bob Dylan,
Basic Channel,
Kurtis Blow,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
DJ Sneak,
Neil Young,
Hoover,
Jesper Dahlback,
Wolf Eyes,
Camberwell Now,
F. McDonald,
Section 25,
Byron Stingily,
Dual Sessions,
Fat Boys,
The Knickerbockers,
Monks,
Pere Ubu,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Fuzztones,
The Fire Engines,
Smog,
Kayak,
Gregory Isaacs,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Procol Harum,
The Doors,
Spoonie Gee,
Rosa Yemen,
The Cramps,
Wire,
Suicide,
Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry.
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.