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 Bahrain and from Copenhagen.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Chocolate Watch Band to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All The American Breed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crash Course in Science record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Shuggie Otis,
Neil Young,
The Monochrome Set,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Intrusion,
The Index,
The Evens,
UT,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Curtis Mayfield,
Frankie Knuckles,
Todd Terry,
Soft Machine,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Slits,
Symarip,
Big Daddy Kane,
Dead Boys,
Silicon Teens,
a-ha,
Liliput,
Ultra Naté,
Dennis Brown,
T. Rex,
Dave Gahan,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Angry Samoans,
Michelle Simonal,
Pagans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Interpol,
Excepter,
Robert Görl,
PIL,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Count Five,
Lakeside,
MC5,
Bad Manners,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Beau Brummels,
The Zeros,
Pet Shop Boys,
Magazine,
Godley & Creme,
Maurizio,
Whodini,
The Real Kids,
The Last Poets,
The Angels of Light,
The Saints,
Niagra,
Soul II Soul,
Harmonia,
Oneida,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Dark Day,
Fad Gadget,
The Fall,
The Flesh Eaters,
Agitation Free,
The Fugs,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.