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 Jordan and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Johannesburg.
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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Technova to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erasure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
David McCallum,
Qualms,
Stiv Bators,
the Swans,
Skriet,
June of 44,
Icehouse,
Sister Nancy,
Derrick May,
In Retrospect,
Tres Demented,
DNA,
Susan Cadogan,
Anthony Braxton,
Angry Samoans,
Black Moon,
Buzzcocks,
Yellowson,
The Music Machine,
Brand Nubian,
Spandau Ballet,
Unwound,
The Electric Prunes,
The Sonics,
Bobby Byrd,
Hoover,
The Doobie Brothers,
Tim Buckley,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Lungfish,
The Doors,
The Buckinghams,
the Human League,
Schoolly D,
Lakeside,
Boredoms,
ABBA,
The Fall,
Negative Approach,
Trumans Water,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Iggy Pop,
Japan,
Josef K,
The Saints,
Roxy Music,
Michelle Simonal,
Moby Grape,
Erasure,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bill Wells,
Fluxion,
Letta Mbulu,
Zapp,
Drexciya,
Make Up,
Sonny Sharrock,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Siglo XX,
Fad Gadget,
Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat.
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.