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 Pakistan and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Icehouse to the disco 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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jeff Lynne,
The Martian,
Sonic Youth,
Animal Collective,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Supertramp,
Bobby Byrd,
The United States of America,
Television Personalities,
Ice-T,
Mo-Dettes,
Tears for Fears,
Young Marble Giants,
OOIOO,
Eve St. Jones,
John Holt,
Mark Hollis,
Gregory Isaacs,
Hashim,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Motions,
Talk Talk,
Nils Olav,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Soul II Soul,
The Young Rascals,
Blossom Toes,
Trumans Water,
Fad Gadget,
John Coltrane,
Todd Terry,
Girls At Our Best!,
Siglo XX,
The Move,
Sun City Girls,
Heaven 17,
Gil Scott Heron,
Second Layer,
cv313,
David Bowie,
Kool Moe Dee,
Derrick Morgan,
Gabor Szabo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Masters at Work,
Darondo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Parry Music,
Radio Birdman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Quantec,
Cymande,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alphaville,
Rites of Spring,
Rufus Thomas,
Kurtis Blow,
Monolake,
Kaleidoscope,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.