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 South Africa and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Niagra to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Fall. All the underground hits.
All Crispian St. Peters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eden Ahbez,
Sällskapet,
Ultra Naté,
Mission of Burma,
Young Marble Giants,
Tomorrow,
Radiohead,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rotary Connection,
The Young Rascals,
The Residents,
The Trojans,
Black Pus,
Absolute Body Control,
Crispy Ambulance,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Schoolly D,
Subhumans,
the Slits,
Yaz,
ABC,
Jeru the Damaja,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cymande,
The Walker Brothers,
Mantronix,
Alphaville,
The Fire Engines,
Colin Newman,
Flash Fearless,
The Sound,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gong,
The Leaves,
Fluxion,
The Moleskins,
Surgeon,
Buzzcocks,
The Selecter,
The Associates,
Joyce Sims,
Drexciya,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Rapeman,
A Certain Ratio,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Smoke,
Eurythmics,
Malaria!,
Johnny Clarke,
Kas Product,
Nik Kershaw,
the Bar-Kays,
Visage,
Guru Guru,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.