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 Guinea-Bissau and from Sao Paulo.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Divine Comedy to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All Fluxion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mandrill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Richard Hell and the Voidoids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
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,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Depeche Mode,
Pantaleimon,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Qualms,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Last Poets,
Scott Walker,
Model 500,
Graham Central Station,
Danielle Patucci,
Sunsets and Hearts,
10cc,
Alison Limerick,
David McCallum,
Slick Rick,
8 Eyed Spy,
Yazoo,
Massinfluence,
the Bar-Kays,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Rekid,
Public Enemy,
Cal Tjader,
Erasure,
The Martian,
Lindisfarne,
The Busters,
The Residents,
Marmalade,
The Vogues,
The Mojo Men,
Brothers Johnson,
The Doobie Brothers,
Erykah Badu,
The Pop Group,
Mo-Dettes,
DNA,
Marc Almond,
MC5,
The Flesh Eaters,
Minutemen,
Porter Ricks,
Pylon,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
the Sonics,
Japan,
Piero Umiliani,
the Slits,
Sam Rivers,
Leonard Cohen,
Alton Ellis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Thee Headcoats,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Star Department,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Alarm Clocks,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.