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 Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 clarinet 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 Lungfish to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All The Star Department tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
the Germs,
The Black Dice,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Masters at Work,
The Alarm Clocks,
Khruangbin,
Fear,
Gabor Szabo,
In Retrospect,
Lyres,
Quando Quango,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Trojans,
Danielle Patucci,
James White and The Blacks,
The Standells,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Reuben Wilson,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ultra Naté,
Japan,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Shuggie Otis,
Scion,
Brothers Johnson,
Aswad,
Idris Muhammad,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Alton Ellis,
Davy DMX,
Icehouse,
X-Ray Spex,
Jawbox,
Stetsasonic,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Smiths,
Derrick Morgan,
Joy Division,
Sexual Harrassment,
Tomorrow,
R.M.O.,
The J.B.'s,
Scratch Acid,
B.T. Express,
Von Mondo,
Roger Hodgson,
Underground Resistance,
Au Pairs,
Al Stewart,
cv313,
Eden Ahbez,
Lindisfarne,
Little Man,
Desert Stars,
The Associates,
Cybotron,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Evens,
Dawn Penn,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.