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 Qatar and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Faust to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe 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 guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fluxion,
Fela Kuti,
Thompson Twins,
Procol Harum,
Liliput,
Flash Fearless,
Delta 5,
The Music Machine,
Sam Rivers,
The Young Rascals,
Monolake,
Popol Vuh,
Pole,
Interpol,
Erasure,
Todd Rundgren,
June Days,
The Red Krayola,
Robert Görl,
Young Marble Giants,
Marcia Griffiths,
Marshall Jefferson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lindisfarne,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Quantec,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Dead C,
The Pop Group,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Groovy Waters,
Stockholm Monsters,
James White and The Blacks,
Los Fastidios,
The Detroit Cobras,
Anakelly,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Delon & Dalcan,
Lalann,
Sandy B,
Nils Olav,
The Fall,
Johnny Osbourne,
Tim Buckley,
Sight & Sound,
Swell Maps,
Minutemen,
Josef K,
Soul Sonic Force,
Infiniti,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lebanon Hanover,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ohio Players,
Simply Red,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
MC5,
Alison Limerick,
The Move,
The Five Americans,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.