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 Sierra Leone and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Eric Copeland to the crunk 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 John Lydon. All the underground hits.
All Roxy Music tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 synthesizer and an organ 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 spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Electric Prunes,
Lucky Dragons,
Mission of Burma,
Panda Bear,
The Young Rascals,
The Toasters,
Sexual Harrassment,
Urselle,
Jesper Dahlback,
Fugazi,
Soul II Soul,
The Associates,
Traffic Nightmare,
H. Thieme,
Silicon Teens,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Red Krayola,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Camberwell Now,
Ossler,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lee Hazlewood,
Underground Resistance,
The Skatalites,
Fela Kuti,
Sarah Menescal,
Brick,
Susan Cadogan,
Jacob Miller,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Neil Young,
New York Dolls,
Intrusion,
Nils Olav,
The Monks,
One Last Wish,
Parry Music,
Letta Mbulu,
Tres Demented,
Clear Light,
Radiohead,
Bootsy Collins,
Idris Muhammad,
Curtis Mayfield,
Juan Atkins,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Procol Harum,
The Pretty Things,
Joey Negro,
Spoonie Gee,
The Durutti Column,
The American Breed,
Tim Buckley,
Maleditus Sound,
Leonard Cohen,
Robert Hood,
E-Dancer,
Blossom Toes,
Theoretical Girls,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Matthew Halsall,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.