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 Liberia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 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 Mandrill to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Spandau Ballet. All the underground hits.
All Gabor Szabo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June of 44 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 theremin and a spring reverb 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 harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
Black Flag,
Gichy Dan,
The Martian,
Judy Mowatt,
X-102,
Desert Stars,
The Searchers,
Cheater Slicks,
Eric Dolphy,
Public Enemy,
Outsiders,
The Cowsills,
Essential Logic,
the Soft Cell,
Toni Rubio,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Quadrant,
Reagan Youth,
The Residents,
The Invisible,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Loose Ends,
Roger Hodgson,
The Fortunes,
These Immortal Souls,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Jeff Mills,
Ronnie Foster,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Wasted Youth,
Bush Tetras,
Jeff Lynne,
Frankie Knuckles,
Fela Kuti,
Mars,
Swell Maps,
Ronan,
The Dead C,
Malaria!,
OOIOO,
Technova,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Michelle Simonal,
The Pop Group,
The Cure,
Robert Hood,
Gregory Isaacs,
Marcia Griffiths,
Steve Hackett,
Robert Görl,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Happenings,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bauhaus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Nico,
Qualms,
The Divine Comedy,
Alison Limerick,
The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola.
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.