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 Malawi and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lou Christie to the punk 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 The Trojans. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lizzy Mercier Descloux record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unwound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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 Fania All-Stars,
Dennis Brown,
Kenny Larkin,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Grandmaster Flash,
UT,
Schoolly D,
Glambeats Corp.,
Subhumans,
Tomorrow,
Stereo Dub,
Magma,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Cure,
Lucky Dragons,
Jacques Brel,
Average White Band,
The Remains,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Ornette Coleman,
Das Ding,
Lungfish,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Alton Ellis,
Lou Christie,
Sällskapet,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Shadows of Knight,
Reagan Youth,
Maleditus Sound,
Mark Hollis,
Ohio Players,
Howard Jones,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bauhaus,
Cheater Slicks,
Scrapy,
the Slits,
Piero Umiliani,
The Smiths,
Bluetip,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Motions,
Eve St. Jones,
Ice-T,
Laurel Aitken,
The Vogues,
Von Mondo,
Man Parrish,
Crooked Eye,
Aloha Tigers,
Roy Ayers,
Tommy Roe,
the Swans,
The Fall,
The Detroit Cobras,
Japan,
Andrew Hill,
The Five Americans,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.