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 Nauru and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Woodstock.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 Lou Reed to the grunge 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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Theoretical Girls,
Susan Cadogan,
Camberwell Now,
The Names,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Warren Ellis,
Black Bananas,
Zapp,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Skaos,
Funky Four + One,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Marine Girls,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Easy Going,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Smoke,
Josef K,
The Monks,
Trumans Water,
the Human League,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Tim Buckley,
Archie Shepp,
The Last Poets,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Soul Sonic Force,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Deakin,
Judy Mowatt,
The Trojans,
K-Klass,
Darondo,
Von Mondo,
Wasted Youth,
Mission of Burma,
Saccharine Trust,
The Zeros,
Toni Rubio,
Drive Like Jehu,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Siglo XX,
the Bar-Kays,
June of 44,
The Techniques,
Gang of Four,
The American Breed,
Bob Dylan,
David Axelrod,
Piero Umiliani,
Cluster,
Brand Nubian,
Chris Corsano,
Godley & Creme,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.