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 Tuvalu and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Rekid to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zero Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
Theoretical Girls,
Cluster,
Accadde A,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Qualms,
Matthew Halsall,
Piero Umiliani,
Vainqueur,
Henry Cow,
The Names,
Tubeway Army,
Jacob Miller,
Von Mondo,
Yaz,
Danielle Patucci,
Crime,
The Associates,
the Slits,
Popol Vuh,
MC5,
K-Klass,
Todd Terry,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Circle Jerks,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Smiths,
MDC,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Anthony Braxton,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Motions,
Godley & Creme,
Silicon Teens,
Sun City Girls,
World's Most,
The Cure,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Moby Grape,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gerry Rafferty,
Fugazi,
Marmalade,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
EPMD,
Neu!,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Offenders,
Alton Ellis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
David McCallum,
FM Einheit,
Oblivians,
Jandek,
Jimmy McGriff,
Quando Quango,
Erykah Badu,
Little Man,
June of 44,
Max Romeo,
Nils Olav,
Bill Near,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.