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 Maldives and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Smiths to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Pierre Henry. All the underground hits.
All The Cosmic Jokers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin 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 güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
One Last Wish,
Joe Smooth,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Hoover,
Eurythmics,
Albert Ayler,
In Retrospect,
Radiohead,
Delta 5,
Todd Rundgren,
The Mummies,
Buzzcocks,
Eric Copeland,
Laurel Aitken,
Agent Orange,
The Trojans,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Terrestrial Tones,
Public Image Ltd.,
Quando Quango,
Joy Division,
The Stooges,
Terry Callier,
The Five Americans,
Robert Wyatt,
the Sonics,
Soft Machine,
Kerrie Biddell,
Arcadia,
Black Moon,
Echospace,
Danielle Patucci,
The Names,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
UT,
Sparks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sam Rivers,
Schoolly D,
Gang of Four,
New York Dolls,
Quadrant,
The Neon Judgement,
Byron Stingily,
Underground Resistance,
Scientists,
Man Parrish,
Qualms,
Yaz,
Deadbeat,
Mission of Burma,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Stereo Dub,
the Swans,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Golliwogs,
Ronnie Foster,
Bill Wells,
The Fuzztones,
Amon Düül,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.