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 New Zealand and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 Accra and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 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 Sandy B to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Barbara Tucker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eli Mardock,
Nirvana,
Oneida,
Warsaw,
Chrome,
Rosa Yemen,
The Motions,
Gong,
Inner City,
Soul II Soul,
Nik Kershaw,
The Evens,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Banda Bassotti,
U.S. Maple,
Sound Behaviour,
Bauhaus,
Eve St. Jones,
L. Decosne,
Boredoms,
Mad Mike,
Outsiders,
Loose Ends,
Stetsasonic,
The Count Five,
Radio Birdman,
Patti Smith,
Bronski Beat,
Television,
Dark Day,
New Age Steppers,
Rapeman,
The Gories,
Deadbeat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Sonny Sharrock,
Bill Wells,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Second Layer,
Hasil Adkins,
Marcia Griffiths,
Lou Christie,
The Fortunes,
ABC,
Talk Talk,
Radiopuhelimet,
Harmonia,
Agent Orange,
James White and The Blacks,
Gerry Rafferty,
Schoolly D,
The Star Department,
The Martian,
The Remains,
Howard Jones,
The Skatalites,
Henry Cow,
Peter & Gordon,
The Moleskins,
Con Funk Shun,
New York Dolls,
JFA,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.