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 Kiribati and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mexico City.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Underground Resistance to the electroclash 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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All Black Bananas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 spring reverb and a clarinet 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 snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
David Bowie,
Slave,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sun Ra,
The Invisible,
Man Eating Sloth,
The J.B.'s,
Maurizio,
Al Stewart,
Junior Murvin,
Prince Buster,
The Litter,
Davy DMX,
Wings,
Roy Ayers,
CMW,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Symarip,
Make Up,
Barry Ungar,
Harpers Bizarre,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Mission of Burma,
Ultravox,
Sam Rivers,
Lebanon Hanover,
New York Dolls,
Kerri Chandler,
Nirvana,
Bobby Byrd,
Section 25,
Todd Terry,
Fad Gadget,
Popol Vuh,
Ten City,
the Human League,
Young Marble Giants,
Brand Nubian,
Camberwell Now,
Flipper,
Drexciya,
Archie Shepp,
Michelle Simonal,
Howard Jones,
Pylon,
Basic Channel,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Big Daddy Kane,
Toni Rubio,
These Immortal Souls,
Qualms,
The Neon Judgement,
Lungfish,
Alphaville,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Bush Tetras,
Alison Limerick,
Dawn Penn,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.