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 Haiti and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Wings to the grunge 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 The Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar 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 arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Pus,
Erasure,
Flipper,
Blossom Toes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Hot Snakes,
The Modern Lovers,
Eden Ahbez,
Henry Cow,
Bang On A Can,
10cc,
R.M.O.,
The Durutti Column,
Joy Division,
The Tremeloes,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Count Five,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Pagans,
Max Romeo,
Bizarre Inc.,
Scientists,
Agent Orange,
The Golliwogs,
Soul Sonic Force,
Soulsonic Force,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Gap Band,
Fad Gadget,
Fluxion,
The Smoke,
The Fugs,
Pierre Henry,
Bobby Sherman,
Cymande,
The Gun Club,
Whodini,
Godley & Creme,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Mojo Men,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lalo Schifrin,
June Days,
Lightning Bolt,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Roger Hodgson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Monochrome Set,
The Dead C,
Mission of Burma,
Tres Demented,
Urselle,
Joey Negro,
Severed Heads,
Porter Ricks,
A Certain Ratio,
Monks,
Ludus,
The Remains,
Jeff Lynne,
Mo-Dettes,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.