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 Bahamas and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Ponytail to the grime 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 The Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T.S.O.L.,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Slits,
Skarface,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sister Nancy,
Young Marble Giants,
One Last Wish,
Brothers Johnson,
Depeche Mode,
The Young Rascals,
The Pretty Things,
The Litter,
The Count Five,
Infiniti,
Japan,
Thee Headcoats,
Donald Byrd,
Andrew Hill,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Mars,
10cc,
Second Layer,
Hashim,
Juan Atkins,
Dorothy Ashby,
Intrusion,
a-ha,
Ice-T,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Model 500,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pagans,
Jeru the Damaja,
Amon Düül,
Ultra Naté,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
FM Einheit,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Section 25,
Brand Nubian,
Harry Pussy,
The Human League,
Television,
The Sonics,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Toasters,
Jandek,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Eric Copeland,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Khruangbin,
Patti Smith,
Pharoah Sanders,
Trumans Water,
Oneida,
Mandrill,
The Buckinghams,
Tres Demented,
X-102, X-102, X-102, X-102.
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.