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 Gambia and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 arpeggiator 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 The Durutti Column to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Kayak. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Bobby Sherman,
Lou Reed,
Quando Quango,
Hardrive,
F. McDonald,
Delta 5,
Can,
Neu!,
Blancmange,
R.M.O.,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Eddi Front,
Tim Buckley,
Sexual Harrassment,
Quantec,
Arthur Verocai,
The Young Rascals,
Lightning Bolt,
Soft Cell,
The Star Department,
Lebanon Hanover,
Loose Ends,
The Move,
Althea and Donna,
Sex Pistols,
Agitation Free,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kenny Larkin,
The Fuzztones,
Q65,
Lungfish,
The Modern Lovers,
Nils Olav,
The Motions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Yazoo,
Roxette,
Bluetip,
Saccharine Trust,
Pulsallama,
Aswad,
Cluster,
Theoretical Girls,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Gladiators,
Tommy Roe,
Pylon,
the Sonics,
Nick Fraelich,
Ken Boothe,
Matthew Halsall,
Henry Cow,
10cc,
Depeche Mode,
Schoolly D,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Soul II Soul,
The Dirtbombs,
Pere Ubu,
Crash Course in Science,
China Crisis,
Alice Coltrane,
Joensuu 1685,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.