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 Vietnam and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Johannesburg.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Blackbyrds to the techno 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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All Electric Light Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lee Hazlewood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Steve Hackett,
MDC,
The Moody Blues,
Jacques Brel,
The Misunderstood,
Agitation Free,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lower 48,
The Fugs,
The Dead C,
The American Breed,
Au Pairs,
The Shadows of Knight,
Average White Band,
Pole,
U.S. Maple,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Swans,
Joensuu 1685,
Marvin Gaye,
John Lydon,
Stiv Bators,
Visage,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Moss Icon,
Scrapy,
the Sonics,
The Music Machine,
Pulsallama,
Sister Nancy,
Slick Rick,
Bootsy Collins,
Roxy Music,
Fluxion,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bad Manners,
Television,
Skarface,
Nils Olav,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Techniques,
Angry Samoans,
The Slits,
Tres Demented,
Outsiders,
The Martian,
Bronski Beat,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Michelle Simonal,
Funkadelic,
Gichy Dan,
Country Teasers,
The United States of America,
Joy Division,
Organ,
Reagan Youth,
Brand Nubian,
Kool Moe Dee,
Spoonie Gee,
Soft Machine,
Fad Gadget,
Dennis Brown,
Rotary Connection,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.