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 Uzbekistan and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Howard Jones to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All Royal Trux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Lydon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry's Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
the Normal,
X-102,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Robert Wyatt,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Goldenarms,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Wire,
Soul Sonic Force,
Camouflage,
Black Moon,
Sonny Sharrock,
Matthew Bourne,
Mary Jane Girls,
Marine Girls,
the Fania All-Stars,
Parry Music,
Albert Ayler,
Organ,
Siglo XX,
Stetsasonic,
The Fall,
Jacques Brel,
Crime,
Roy Ayers,
The Mummies,
Kayak,
Delon & Dalcan,
Little Man,
Lightning Bolt,
Lou Christie,
Symarip,
Agent Orange,
The Kinks,
Morten Harket,
Soft Cell,
UT,
Surgeon,
Sparks,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Moss Icon,
Public Enemy,
Bob Dylan,
Can,
Freddie Wadling,
La Düsseldorf,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Radiohead,
Slave,
Letta Mbulu,
Skriet,
Smog,
The Motions,
Yazoo,
Cluster,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Soft Machine,
Gang Gang Dance,
R.M.O.,
The Sound,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.