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 Benin and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Alphaville to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mission of Burma record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tommy Roe,
The Tremeloes,
X-101,
Kerrie Biddell,
Oblivians,
Tom Boy,
John Foxx,
X-Ray Spex,
The Cowsills,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Soul II Soul,
Black Bananas,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jerry's Kids,
Prince Buster,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Marmalade,
Mission of Burma,
Harpers Bizarre,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Piero Umiliani,
Ossler,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Cosmic Jokers,
LL Cool J,
Angry Samoans,
Dual Sessions,
Half Japanese,
Talk Talk,
Q65,
Neu!,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Standells,
Qualms,
Clear Light,
Hardrive,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Roger Hodgson,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Ornette Coleman,
Blancmange,
The Mummies,
Roy Ayers,
Visage,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rites of Spring,
Lyres,
Heaven 17,
Grauzone,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Stiv Bators,
10cc,
Nas,
Pantaleimon,
Flamin' Groovies,
Maurizio,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.