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 Swaziland and from Delhi.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Isaac Hayes to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Association. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Amon Düül,
Neu!,
The Moody Blues,
The Smiths,
the Germs,
The Victims,
This Heat,
Popol Vuh,
Todd Terry,
The United States of America,
Jeff Lynne,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Blackbyrds,
James Chance & The Contortions,
PIL,
The Associates,
Cluster,
Minutemen,
In Retrospect,
Bronski Beat,
Eric Copeland,
Brass Construction,
Terrestrial Tones,
Joy Division,
Nation of Ulysses,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Star Department,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bill Wells,
The Raincoats,
The Count Five,
The Real Kids,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Crispy Ambulance,
Spoonie Gee,
Eli Mardock,
Shuggie Otis,
Tommy Roe,
Unwound,
Index,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Whodini,
UT,
The Vogues,
Lou Reed,
Das Ding,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Moby Grape,
Tom Boy,
Visage,
Althea and Donna,
Idris Muhammad,
Lakeside,
Rosa Yemen,
Peter & Gordon,
Grauzone,
Matthew Bourne,
The Toasters,
Oneida,
Rod Modell,
Electric Prunes,
The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills.
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.