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 Kyrgyzstan and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 London Community Gospel Choir 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 Japan. All the underground hits.
All Organ tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Michelle Simonal,
Bobby Byrd,
Lou Christie,
Depeche Mode,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Busters,
The Misunderstood,
The Gun Club,
Make Up,
Vainqueur,
Ronan,
Robert Görl,
The United States of America,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Soul Sonic Force,
Q65,
Glenn Branca,
Flipper,
Porter Ricks,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Minor Threat,
Minnie Riperton,
The Black Dice,
Rod Modell,
X-102,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Durutti Column,
ABC,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
E-Dancer,
Sun Ra,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Swell Maps,
Quadrant,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Move,
Delon & Dalcan,
Mark Hollis,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Goldenarms,
AZ,
Glambeats Corp.,
Robert Wyatt,
Soul II Soul,
The Moleskins,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bootsy Collins,
Ultra Naté,
Hasil Adkins,
Lucky Dragons,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
This Heat,
Camberwell Now,
Vladislav Delay,
Ponytail,
The Saints,
The Leaves,
The Monks,
Talk Talk,
Franke,
David Bowie,
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.