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 St Lucia and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 Be Bop Deluxe to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five 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 synthesizer 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 Modern Lovers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
June of 44,
Jeff Mills,
Scientists,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Warren Ellis,
Bob Dylan,
A Certain Ratio,
Parry Music,
Public Image Ltd.,
David McCallum,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ituana,
OOIOO,
Can,
Thee Headcoats,
the Slits,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Moody Blues,
The Knickerbockers,
The Names,
The Human League,
Amon Düül II,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Radiohead,
Skriet,
Stereo Dub,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mr. Review,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sarah Menescal,
Rosa Yemen,
Max Romeo,
Rotary Connection,
The Misunderstood,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
This Heat,
Black Bananas,
Johnny Osbourne,
Junior Murvin,
Sixth Finger,
Hashim,
Jeru the Damaja,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Human League,
FM Einheit,
Sun City Girls,
Harmonia,
Kayak,
Barbara Tucker,
Country Teasers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Five Americans,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Invisible,
Grandmaster Flash,
Brothers Johnson,
Sonic Youth,
MC5,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.