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 Sudan and from Lagos.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 mellotron 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 New Order to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Charles Mingus. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kevin Saunderson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 marimba 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 rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
Dawn Penn,
Laurel Aitken,
Ossler,
Letta Mbulu,
Warsaw,
Patti Smith,
Audionom,
Quantec,
Sonic Youth,
Michelle Simonal,
Panda Bear,
Anthony Braxton,
the Soft Cell,
Brand Nubian,
Brass Construction,
Eurythmics,
X-101,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Leonard Cohen,
Scratch Acid,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Minnie Riperton,
Fela Kuti,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Count Five,
Scan 7,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Associates,
The Saints,
Faust,
Crispy Ambulance,
New York Dolls,
X-102,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Black Bananas,
The Modern Lovers,
AZ,
Todd Terry,
Clear Light,
Colin Newman,
New Age Steppers,
The Sound,
The Pretty Things,
The J.B.'s,
UT,
MDC,
The Gap Band,
Hoover,
Eric Dolphy,
Ornette Coleman,
Flash Fearless,
The Neon Judgement,
Hardrive,
Janne Schatter,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lalann,
Todd Rundgren,
Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside.
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.