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 Bulgaria and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Detroit Cobras to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crime 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cheater Slicks,
Roxette,
U.S. Maple,
the Human League,
The Trojans,
Glambeats Corp.,
John Lydon,
Surgeon,
Hashim,
The Buckinghams,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sex Pistols,
New York Dolls,
Black Pus,
Iggy Pop,
Harmonia,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Tremeloes,
Adolescents,
Bush Tetras,
Whodini,
The Golliwogs,
Warren Ellis,
Nico,
Andrew Hill,
The Real Kids,
Little Man,
Lebanon Hanover,
Royal Trux,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Star Department,
the Bar-Kays,
Angry Samoans,
Soft Cell,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Davy DMX,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Alison Limerick,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Angels of Light,
Donald Byrd,
Dave Gahan,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Eric Dolphy,
June of 44,
The Misunderstood,
Althea and Donna,
Malaria!,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Barracudas,
Kool Moe Dee,
Carl Craig,
The Sonics,
Josef K,
Mantronix,
Alphaville,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
UT,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Japan,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.