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 Vanuatu and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 The Last Poets to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Scientists tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a chamberlin 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 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
The Slackers,
Los Fastidios,
June Days,
Thompson Twins,
Rakim,
Roxette,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kerrie Biddell,
Yellowson,
The Wake,
The Sound,
The Sonics,
The Beau Brummels,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Technova,
Banda Bassotti,
The American Breed,
Connie Case,
Minny Pops,
Supertramp,
Scan 7,
Siglo XX,
Marcia Griffiths,
Radio Birdman,
Funky Four + One,
Lightning Bolt,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gong,
The Birthday Party,
Fela Kuti,
The Misunderstood,
The Selecter,
Hoover,
Mandrill,
the Germs,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Gastr Del Sol,
Second Layer,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Ornette Coleman,
The Monochrome Set,
Soul Sonic Force,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Vainqueur,
The Stooges,
Das Ding,
The Golliwogs,
Patti Smith,
Severed Heads,
Brand Nubian,
Simply Red,
Kevin Saunderson,
Hot Snakes,
Soft Cell,
Pantaleimon,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Eden Ahbez,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.