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 Barbados and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 808 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 The Stooges to the punk 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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All The Remains tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultramagnetic MC's record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Searchers,
John Lydon,
Lee Hazlewood,
A Certain Ratio,
Traffic Nightmare,
Kaleidoscope,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ultimate Spinach,
Henry Cow,
Radiohead,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ronan,
The Skatalites,
Schoolly D,
The Fall,
Crime,
The Divine Comedy,
Easy Going,
Wire,
Accadde A,
The Tremeloes,
Flash Fearless,
Moby Grape,
Gabor Szabo,
Janne Schatter,
Sex Pistols,
Eden Ahbez,
Trumans Water,
Gong,
Charles Mingus,
Nas,
Flipper,
Soul Sonic Force,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Visage,
Joensuu 1685,
Y Pants,
Swell Maps,
Yaz,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Smoke,
Electric Light Orchestra,
David Bowie,
Blake Baxter,
Dead Boys,
Vladislav Delay,
FM Einheit,
Sun Ra,
The Raincoats,
Barrington Levy,
Arthur Verocai,
Scan 7,
The Angels of Light,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eve St. Jones,
Deakin,
Gang Green,
Oblivians,
Bill Near,
Zapp,
The Names,
Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's.
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.