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 Samoa and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Rosa Yemen to the crunk 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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Interpol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin 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 rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Unwound,
The Moleskins,
The Gladiators,
Fat Boys,
Arthur Verocai,
Roxy Music,
The Last Poets,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Eurythmics,
Johnny Clarke,
The Martian,
James White and The Blacks,
Jawbox,
F. McDonald,
Procol Harum,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
X-Ray Spex,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Joy Division,
Symarip,
Barrington Levy,
Ossler,
Radiopuhelimet,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Aural Exciters,
Steve Hackett,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Bobby Sherman,
John Holt,
Jeff Mills,
Freddie Wadling,
Arab on Radar,
Yusef Lateef,
the Germs,
Susan Cadogan,
Colin Newman,
Connie Case,
Althea and Donna,
Barclay James Harvest,
the Sonics,
Iggy Pop,
Angry Samoans,
Theoretical Girls,
Model 500,
Godley & Creme,
Barbara Tucker,
The Offenders,
cv313,
A Certain Ratio,
Average White Band,
Country Teasers,
The Knickerbockers,
Bronski Beat,
Lou Christie,
Bob Dylan,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Standells, The Standells, The Standells, The Standells.
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.