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 Turkmenistan and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Fugazi to the punk 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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All Television Personalities tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
Wings,
Hashim,
Brick,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Bar-Kays,
Tres Demented,
The Dave Clark Five,
Alison Limerick,
Avey Tare,
The Red Krayola,
Sex Pistols,
Dawn Penn,
The Slackers,
Roy Ayers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eric B and Rakim,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Electric Prunes,
Little Man,
Kevin Saunderson,
AZ,
Matthew Halsall,
Yusef Lateef,
Soft Machine,
Buzzcocks,
Alphaville,
PIL,
The Shadows of Knight,
Roxette,
The Martian,
Can,
Andrew Hill,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Fugazi,
Funky Four + One,
Cameo,
Cymande,
The Music Machine,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Banda Bassotti,
A Certain Ratio,
Pierre Henry,
Eddi Front,
Fela Kuti,
Monolake,
Pet Shop Boys,
John Holt,
Eve St. Jones,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Harpers Bizarre,
Outsiders,
The Mojo Men,
the Slits,
Matthew Bourne,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Arab on Radar,
MDC,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.