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 Bolivia and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Doobie Brothers to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Procol Harum. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 chamberlin and a snare 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 theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Nirvana,
Radiohead,
Marvin Gaye,
Organ,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Blackbyrds,
Black Flag,
Heaven 17,
Sarah Menescal,
The Buckinghams,
The Dave Clark Five,
Ultimate Spinach,
the Sonics,
Sugar Minott,
Skaos,
X-Ray Spex,
Faraquet,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lebanon Hanover,
Crooked Eye,
The Litter,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Soft Machine,
Rapeman,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kayak,
Boz Scaggs,
Johnny Clarke,
The Index,
Rosa Yemen,
Bad Manners,
Josef K,
Kerrie Biddell,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sun Ra,
Nick Fraelich,
Simply Red,
Bronski Beat,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Faust,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Cure,
Anthony Braxton,
Sam Rivers,
Ultra Naté,
John Holt,
Adolescents,
The Dead C,
The New Christs,
Black Sheep,
Joe Finger,
Deakin,
Royal Trux,
Drexciya,
Jeru the Damaja,
Von Mondo,
David Bowie,
The Fugs,
Altered Images,
Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart.
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.