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 Venezuela and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Delhi.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Toasters to the techno 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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Beasts of Bourbon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultramagnetic MC's 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar 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 linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Certain Ratio,
Masters at Work,
Model 500,
Jesper Dahlback,
Television Personalities,
Peter & Gordon,
Fluxion,
Steve Hackett,
Joe Smooth,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Desert Stars,
John Holt,
The Stooges,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sam Rivers,
Gerry Rafferty,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Thee Headcoats,
Youth Brigade,
Erasure,
The Barracudas,
Fela Kuti,
Gang Green,
Blossom Toes,
EPMD,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kerri Chandler,
Andrew Hill,
Yusef Lateef,
Dark Day,
Kas Product,
The Electric Prunes,
Crash Course in Science,
Charles Mingus,
Wasted Youth,
Main Source,
Man Eating Sloth,
AZ,
Joey Negro,
Robert Görl,
Buzzcocks,
Judy Mowatt,
The Gap Band,
The Modern Lovers,
Royal Trux,
Scott Walker,
The Searchers,
Swell Maps,
Aswad,
Fear,
Amon Düül II,
OOIOO,
Ponytail,
John Lydon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Echospace,
Mark Hollis,
One Last Wish,
Ituana,
Johnny Clarke,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.