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 Mali and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 snare 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 Gang Gang Dance to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Q and Not U tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Marshall Jefferson,
Johnny Clarke,
James White and The Blacks,
Josef K,
Eddi Front,
Los Fastidios,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jacques Brel,
Rites of Spring,
the Human League,
Rakim,
Dave Gahan,
Lindisfarne,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Nils Olav,
Hardrive,
K-Klass,
U.S. Maple,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Flamin' Groovies,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mars,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Neon Judgement,
Liliput,
Godley & Creme,
The Misunderstood,
Swell Maps,
Judy Mowatt,
The Invisible,
Gerry Rafferty,
New Order,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sun Ra,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Freddie Wadling,
Mr. Review,
Amazonics,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Monochrome Set,
the Germs,
Lakeside,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Sonics,
The Wake,
The Monks,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Vogues,
Wings,
The United States of America,
Fad Gadget,
Harry Pussy,
Scott Walker,
DJ Style,
Suburban Knight,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sexual Harrassment,
Warsaw,
The Alarm Clocks,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.