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 South Sudan and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the guitar 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 Blake Baxter to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet 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 guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sparks,
The Seeds,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Fela Kuti,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Liliput,
Khruangbin,
The Knickerbockers,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Danielle Patucci,
Lou Christie,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Accadde A,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Lungfish,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Fugs,
Zero Boys,
the Soft Cell,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Names,
Laurel Aitken,
The Barracudas,
The Black Dice,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Quando Quango,
The Mojo Men,
Neu!,
Pussy Galore,
UT,
The Index,
Television Personalities,
Max Romeo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
These Immortal Souls,
Chrome,
Bluetip,
The Durutti Column,
Warren Ellis,
The Mummies,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
James White and The Blacks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Bobby Sherman,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Babytalk,
Agent Orange,
A Certain Ratio,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Roger Hodgson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Eurythmics,
Kool Moe Dee,
Scan 7,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Jerry's Kids,
Anthony Braxton,
Angry Samoans,
Gerry Rafferty,
Popol Vuh,
Slave,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.