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 Slovakia and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Pus,
Echospace,
Morten Harket,
Arthur Verocai,
John Coltrane,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
U.S. Maple,
X-101,
The Count Five,
Godley & Creme,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bush Tetras,
Kurtis Blow,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Raincoats,
Peter & Gordon,
Darondo,
Rod Modell,
Henry Cow,
The Gun Club,
The Blackbyrds,
The Sonics,
Pylon,
Infiniti,
Fela Kuti,
Ornette Coleman,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Zeros,
The Five Americans,
Absolute Body Control,
Alphaville,
Little Man,
Quadrant,
Liliput,
The Vogues,
Technova,
The Human League,
Funky Four + One,
Crispian St. Peters,
Marvin Gaye,
CMW,
Freddie Wadling,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Modern Lovers,
Massinfluence,
Television Personalities,
Surgeon,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gil Scott Heron,
Vladislav Delay,
R.M.O.,
The Saints,
Tomorrow,
Ice-T,
Moebius,
MC5,
Max Romeo,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Camouflage,
Malaria!,
Yusef Lateef,
Black Bananas,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.