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 Ivory Coast and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Columbus.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Piero Umiliani to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Curtis Mayfield record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sisters of Mercy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
D'Angelo,
The Fire Engines,
Carl Craig,
Aswad,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Angels of Light,
The Evens,
Sexual Harrassment,
James Chance & The Contortions,
In Retrospect,
Chrome,
Newcleus,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Mummies,
Soft Machine,
Scion,
Intrusion,
the Fania All-Stars,
Essential Logic,
Bluetip,
MC5,
Laurel Aitken,
The Selecter,
Fad Gadget,
Alphaville,
Dead Boys,
Delta 5,
New Age Steppers,
Camouflage,
Make Up,
Dawn Penn,
Archie Shepp,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Franke,
Ludus,
Talk Talk,
Scan 7,
the Germs,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lower 48,
Urselle,
Fat Boys,
Amon Düül,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Stiv Bators,
Sound Behaviour,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
DNA,
The Cure,
Shuggie Otis,
Interpol,
DJ Style,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Quadrant,
Ornette Coleman,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Smoke,
The Invisible,
Cecil Taylor,
New Order,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.