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 Libya and from Glasgow.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Judy Mowatt to the techno 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 Bob Dylan. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Roxette,
The Last Poets,
The Angels of Light,
Sparks,
Wally Richardson,
Kool Moe Dee,
Boogie Down Productions,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Urselle,
OOIOO,
Popol Vuh,
Magma,
John Cale,
Chris & Cosey,
Newcleus,
Jerry's Kids,
Eric Copeland,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Lou Reed,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Leonard Cohen,
Talk Talk,
Aaron Thompson,
Harpers Bizarre,
Avey Tare,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Franke,
Darondo,
Joensuu 1685,
These Immortal Souls,
Negative Approach,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Slick Rick,
Yazoo,
Hashim,
Crispian St. Peters,
A Certain Ratio,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Count Five,
Donald Byrd,
Sixth Finger,
The Toasters,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Moebius,
Jacques Brel,
Faust,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Camberwell Now,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Black Dice,
Suicide,
Don Cherry,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lightning Bolt,
Pagans,
Nik Kershaw,
Camouflage,
Tom Boy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Alison Limerick,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.