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 Germany and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Taipei.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Johnny Osbourne to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Wings,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Heaven 17,
U.S. Maple,
The Kinks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Gories,
Ornette Coleman,
The Detroit Cobras,
John Cale,
Subhumans,
Minutemen,
Black Sheep,
Jimmy McGriff,
Roy Ayers,
Amon Düül II,
T.S.O.L.,
Lou Christie,
Michelle Simonal,
Kayak,
Funkadelic,
The Divine Comedy,
Aaron Thompson,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Alice Coltrane,
Max Romeo,
JFA,
Pere Ubu,
Robert Görl,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Glenn Branca,
Faraquet,
Lyres,
Morten Harket,
Scion,
Zero Boys,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Gap Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Janne Schatter,
Derrick May,
The United States of America,
Bootsy Collins,
Boogie Down Productions,
Donald Byrd,
Delon & Dalcan,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dark Day,
Cabaret Voltaire,
a-ha,
The New Christs,
Dorothy Ashby,
Alphaville,
Byron Stingily,
Hashim,
New Order,
Gang of Four,
The Doobie Brothers,
Maurizio,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.