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 France and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 American Breed to the grime 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 Lungfish. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry's Kids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 sitar and a mellotron 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 mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Lee Hazlewood,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Nick Fraelich,
Siglo XX,
Hasil Adkins,
Bronski Beat,
Second Layer,
DJ Style,
Peter & Gordon,
Sonny Sharrock,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Grass Roots,
Monolake,
Audionom,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Infiniti,
DNA,
Echospace,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Arab on Radar,
Japan,
The Last Poets,
Adolescents,
Davy DMX,
Tres Demented,
Colin Newman,
Eve St. Jones,
The Seeds,
The Names,
Jawbox,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gang of Four,
Al Stewart,
Jacques Brel,
Yellowson,
Aural Exciters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
A Certain Ratio,
Grauzone,
Babytalk,
Ultra Naté,
Flash Fearless,
Kerri Chandler,
Lyres,
Dennis Brown,
Henry Cow,
Kenny Larkin,
E-Dancer,
Erykah Badu,
Quantec,
Nico,
Godley & Creme,
MDC,
Dual Sessions,
Brick,
Cybotron,
Funky Four + One,
Derrick Morgan,
Essential Logic,
B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express.
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.