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 Bulgaria and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Salvador.
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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Brothers Johnson to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bluetip. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra 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 marimba and a synthesizer 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 güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lalo Schifrin,
Gerry Rafferty,
Aloha Tigers,
The Cramps,
Nico,
the Bar-Kays,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dennis Brown,
The Gap Band,
The Gladiators,
Reuben Wilson,
Ronan,
Tears for Fears,
the Normal,
L. Decosne,
Unwound,
Bill Wells,
Godley & Creme,
Echospace,
Kurtis Blow,
Country Teasers,
Rosa Yemen,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ornette Coleman,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eddi Front,
Roxy Music,
Pere Ubu,
Rod Modell,
Swans,
Babytalk,
The Monks,
Cymande,
Neu!,
Amon Düül,
Jeff Lynne,
The Mojo Men,
Flipper,
Al Stewart,
Blossom Toes,
The Busters,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Section 25,
Youth Brigade,
Peter & Gordon,
Motorama,
Gabor Szabo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lightning Bolt,
Bluetip,
The Smoke,
The Move,
Sam Rivers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Icehouse,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Idris Muhammad,
Jimmy McGriff,
Johnny Clarke,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.