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 Poland and from Mexico City.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the güiro 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the disco 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 Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Gang Green tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aloha Tigers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and an oboe 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 mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
Judy Mowatt,
Scan 7,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Fania All-Stars,
Schoolly D,
Nas,
Bob Dylan,
The Young Rascals,
Faust,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Jandek,
Parry Music,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Brand Nubian,
Boogie Down Productions,
Erykah Badu,
Ohio Players,
Talk Talk,
Camouflage,
Brothers Johnson,
Bad Manners,
The Black Dice,
Franke,
The Skatalites,
Minnie Riperton,
Swell Maps,
The Dead C,
Blake Baxter,
Ultravox,
Dawn Penn,
Pantaleimon,
Shuggie Otis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Mission of Burma,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Absolute Body Control,
Flash Fearless,
Bush Tetras,
John Cale,
Mars,
Bootsy Collins,
Bill Wells,
Lebanon Hanover,
This Heat,
The Moody Blues,
Janne Schatter,
Todd Rundgren,
Skaos,
Monks,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Monolake,
The Busters,
Public Enemy,
Ken Boothe,
Black Pus,
Nirvana,
a-ha,
Dual Sessions,
Brass Construction,
The Names,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.