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 Azerbaijan and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Tears for Fears to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Sunsets and Hearts tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sound Behaviour,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bauhaus,
Neu!,
June Days,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Misunderstood,
The Residents,
Agent Orange,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Black Sheep,
Albert Ayler,
The Count Five,
Cal Tjader,
Joey Negro,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
New Age Steppers,
Nas,
Brothers Johnson,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
the Normal,
Bill Wells,
The Leaves,
CMW,
Organ,
Flipper,
kango's stein massive,
Kas Product,
Crispian St. Peters,
Popol Vuh,
Marc Almond,
Amon Düül,
cv313,
The Slackers,
The Dead C,
Toni Rubio,
Tres Demented,
Warren Ellis,
The Motions,
Duran Duran,
Andrew Hill,
Flash Fearless,
Stereo Dub,
The Raincoats,
D'Angelo,
The Red Krayola,
Wings,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mad Mike,
Bobby Womack,
The Birthday Party,
World's Most,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Peter & Gordon,
Sister Nancy,
Arthur Verocai,
Mantronix,
Pole, Pole, Pole, Pole.
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.