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 Turkmenistan and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the electroclash 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All The Tremeloes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gabor Szabo 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Light Orchestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
CMW,
OOIOO,
Pagans,
Banda Bassotti,
Monks,
Subhumans,
The Toasters,
Yaz,
Ossler,
Derrick Morgan,
Blossom Toes,
Quadrant,
Second Layer,
Grandmaster Flash,
Mr. Review,
Vladislav Delay,
Animal Collective,
Essential Logic,
A Certain Ratio,
The Slits,
Sun Ra,
Skriet,
The Stooges,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Five Americans,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Lightning Bolt,
Oblivians,
Hasil Adkins,
Derrick May,
Alton Ellis,
James White and The Blacks,
Easy Going,
Gang Green,
Reuben Wilson,
The Human League,
The Fire Engines,
Sällskapet,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Althea and Donna,
Bizarre Inc.,
Chrome,
Ornette Coleman,
E-Dancer,
Sonny Sharrock,
David Axelrod,
Ralphi Rosario,
Thee Headcoats,
Radio Birdman,
Country Teasers,
Massinfluence,
Lower 48,
Television,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ultimate Spinach,
Tim Buckley,
JFA,
Wally Richardson,
Girls At Our Best!,
Junior Murvin,
The Young Rascals,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.