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 Ghana and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 spring reverb 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 Man Eating Sloth to the grime 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 Nick Fraelich. All the underground hits.
All Gerry Rafferty tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Raincoats 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
the Slits,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lightning Bolt,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Associates,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pere Ubu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Massinfluence,
Funkadelic,
Judy Mowatt,
Scratch Acid,
Bootsy Collins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Barbara Tucker,
The Slackers,
Shuggie Otis,
Soul II Soul,
The Detroit Cobras,
Yaz,
Grey Daturas,
Spoonie Gee,
The Flesh Eaters,
Traffic Nightmare,
The New Christs,
The Misunderstood,
The Real Kids,
Jeff Lynne,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Warsaw,
Juan Atkins,
Alton Ellis,
Inner City,
Bobby Byrd,
Radiopuhelimet,
Eve St. Jones,
ABC,
The Five Americans,
Maurizio,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Soft Machine,
Al Stewart,
Stetsasonic,
Reagan Youth,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Dave Clark Five,
Roger Hodgson,
Franke,
The Smiths,
DNA,
The Litter,
Spandau Ballet,
Kaleidoscope,
The Sound,
Bauhaus,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Star Department,
The Victims,
The J.B.'s,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.