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 Cameroon and from Winnipeg.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Inner City 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agent Orange 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator 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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
U.S. Maple,
Black Sheep,
Thee Headcoats,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Groovy Waters,
Half Japanese,
Fatback Band,
Rakim,
Sight & Sound,
Godley & Creme,
Vladislav Delay,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Sonics,
The Move,
Rod Modell,
Funkadelic,
Leonard Cohen,
EPMD,
Althea and Donna,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Magma,
Index,
The Modern Lovers,
Marine Girls,
Ronnie Foster,
X-Ray Spex,
Juan Atkins,
The Shadows of Knight,
Severed Heads,
Idris Muhammad,
Theoretical Girls,
ABC,
Niagra,
Ituana,
Barclay James Harvest,
Dennis Brown,
KRS-One,
The Misunderstood,
Bobby Byrd,
Popol Vuh,
Jerry Gold Smith,
John Lydon,
The Flesh Eaters,
Eric B and Rakim,
Grey Daturas,
Echospace,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Germs,
Neil Young,
Amon Düül,
Bill Wells,
Symarip,
Davy DMX,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Real Kids,
Byron Stingily,
Parry Music,
Banda Bassotti,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.