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 Chad and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Second Layer to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gerry Rafferty. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb 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 arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grey Daturas,
Radiohead,
The Velvet Underground,
Lou Reed,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Trojans,
Chris & Cosey,
Aural Exciters,
48th St. Collective,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ultravox,
Young Marble Giants,
Crispian St. Peters,
10cc,
Sonic Youth,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Chrome,
Franke,
the Fania All-Stars,
Hasil Adkins,
Marmalade,
Echospace,
Subhumans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Reuben Wilson,
the Germs,
Bush Tetras,
Magazine,
Glambeats Corp.,
Deakin,
Robert Görl,
The Shadows of Knight,
Camberwell Now,
Erasure,
The Monochrome Set,
Average White Band,
Avey Tare,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Fuzztones,
Lower 48,
Archie Shepp,
Joe Smooth,
Moby Grape,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Outsiders,
Skriet,
Soul Sonic Force,
the Swans,
The Techniques,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Harmonia,
Zapp,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Slits,
Bob Dylan,
Kerri Chandler,
Derrick Morgan,
Carl Craig,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Babytalk,
R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O..
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.