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 China and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam 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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Al Stewart tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 rhodes and a harpsichord 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 spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cowsills,
Delta 5,
Intrusion,
Pantaleimon,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Dead C,
Ossler,
Gong,
Groovy Waters,
Eli Mardock,
Suicide,
Lower 48,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ornette Coleman,
Joyce Sims,
The Techniques,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ultra Naté,
Eyeless In Gaza,
David Bowie,
Los Fastidios,
Lungfish,
Matthew Halsall,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lalann,
The Gories,
The Buckinghams,
Andrew Hill,
John Holt,
Camouflage,
Dennis Brown,
Sparks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
X-102,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Gun Club,
Marshall Jefferson,
June of 44,
Porter Ricks,
Max Romeo,
Johnny Osbourne,
Reagan Youth,
Motorama,
EPMD,
David Axelrod,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Shadows of Knight,
Adolescents,
Ronnie Foster,
Urselle,
The Kinks,
LL Cool J,
Jandek,
Pulsallama,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.