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 Kuwait and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Holger Czukay 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 Eric Copeland to the techno 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Alarm Clocks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Standells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Alice Coltrane,
Michelle Simonal,
The Skatalites,
Mission of Burma,
Drexciya,
Joensuu 1685,
Blancmange,
Al Stewart,
K-Klass,
Metal Thangz,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Royal Trux,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Jandek,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Franke,
Alphaville,
Susan Cadogan,
Isaac Hayes,
Nils Olav,
Television Personalities,
Eric Dolphy,
Marshall Jefferson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Inner City,
Agitation Free,
Lower 48,
Section 25,
The Velvet Underground,
Zapp,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Saints,
John Coltrane,
Minny Pops,
Matthew Halsall,
Kas Product,
Neu!,
David Bowie,
the Bar-Kays,
The Red Krayola,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Normal,
Colin Newman,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Chris & Cosey,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Excepter,
Kool Moe Dee,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Laurel Aitken,
B.T. Express,
Kurtis Blow,
Public Enemy,
cv313,
Pantytec,
Sex Pistols,
Jeff Mills,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Von Mondo,
Boredoms,
Goldenarms,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.