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 Grenada and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 spring reverb 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 Lou Reed & John Cale to the rock 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 The Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Bauhaus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lonnie Liston Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba 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 arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pop Group,
Swans,
Unwound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sight & Sound,
Rosa Yemen,
Smog,
Negative Approach,
Michelle Simonal,
Circle Jerks,
Brand Nubian,
Wire,
48th St. Collective,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Little Man,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Fugs,
Brothers Johnson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Absolute Body Control,
The Real Kids,
Gong,
Depeche Mode,
Das Ding,
Arab on Radar,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pharoah Sanders,
Toni Rubio,
Siglo XX,
The Evens,
Television,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
ABC,
The Misunderstood,
Donny Hathaway,
John Cale,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Graham Central Station,
OOIOO,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Buzzcocks,
The Selecter,
Cymande,
Altered Images,
Motorama,
Scion,
Qualms,
Kayak,
Section 25,
E-Dancer,
Erasure,
The Litter,
Tubeway Army,
Make Up,
Zero Boys,
Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music.
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.