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 Palau and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manila.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Connie Case 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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin 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 oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Dennis Brown,
Sight & Sound,
Scott Walker,
The Count Five,
Television Personalities,
the Swans,
New Age Steppers,
Steve Hackett,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Funkadelic,
Soft Machine,
Oblivians,
Deepchord,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Infiniti,
The Remains,
Tommy Roe,
Severed Heads,
Blancmange,
Oneida,
The Mojo Men,
Sugar Minott,
Amon Düül II,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Techniques,
Warren Ellis,
Young Marble Giants,
Wire,
Pet Shop Boys,
UT,
Don Cherry,
Grey Daturas,
Supertramp,
Nico,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pussy Galore,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Fire Engines,
The Evens,
Clear Light,
John Coltrane,
Stiv Bators,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Banda Bassotti,
DJ Sneak,
Avey Tare,
Television,
AZ,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Organ,
Basic Channel,
Drive Like Jehu,
Public Enemy,
The Moody Blues,
U.S. Maple,
Cluster,
The Blackbyrds,
T. Rex,
Echospace, Echospace, Echospace, Echospace.
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.