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 Equatorial Guinea and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 organ 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 Circle Jerks to the disco 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 The Fugs. All the underground hits.
All Warren Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vladislav Delay record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
The Five Americans,
The Vogues,
The Wake,
Bill Near,
Dorothy Ashby,
the Slits,
Ultravox,
Lindisfarne,
Rotary Connection,
Monolake,
Lou Christie,
The Neon Judgement,
The Barracudas,
the Human League,
Rekid,
Fatback Band,
The Skatalites,
Monks,
Pierre Henry,
E-Dancer,
Gong,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Japan,
Eurythmics,
DNA,
Anthony Braxton,
Los Fastidios,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Underground Resistance,
Janne Schatter,
The Beau Brummels,
Mission of Burma,
The Shadows of Knight,
Barclay James Harvest,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Moebius,
Con Funk Shun,
Tim Buckley,
Essential Logic,
The Smoke,
Lou Reed,
The Golliwogs,
Amon Düül,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Warren Ellis,
The Motions,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Little Man,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Vladislav Delay,
Alison Limerick,
the Sonics,
Qualms,
Connie Case,
Skarface,
Q and Not U,
Talk Talk,
Clear Light,
Zapp,
Bobby Sherman,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.