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 Equatorial Guinea and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 synthesizer 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 Gang Green to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Slits. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
B.T. Express,
E-Dancer,
Bang On A Can,
Cluster,
Sparks,
Q65,
Morten Harket,
Terry Callier,
Y Pants,
Deepchord,
Lucky Dragons,
CMW,
Ponytail,
The J.B.'s,
Flipper,
Man Parrish,
X-Ray Spex,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Duran Duran,
the Soft Cell,
John Foxx,
Prince Buster,
Blancmange,
Soul Sonic Force,
Los Fastidios,
Mr. Review,
The Victims,
Clear Light,
Yaz,
Sandy B,
Mad Mike,
Joe Smooth,
Hashim,
R.M.O.,
Al Stewart,
Surgeon,
Model 500,
Ornette Coleman,
MC5,
Warren Ellis,
Ludus,
Nick Fraelich,
Banda Bassotti,
Dennis Brown,
Adolescents,
Judy Mowatt,
David Bowie,
Delta 5,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ronnie Foster,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Kayak,
L. Decosne,
Intrusion,
Newcleus,
The Fortunes,
Gang of Four,
Franke,
This Heat,
Spandau Ballet,
Gong,
Maleditus Sound,
Patti Smith,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.