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 New Zealand and from Shanghai.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Niagra to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Grey Daturas. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry's Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
Malaria!,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Cramps,
Stetsasonic,
The Fire Engines,
Television,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pylon,
The Monochrome Set,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Buckinghams,
Agitation Free,
Black Moon,
Surgeon,
The Cowsills,
Kayak,
Roger Hodgson,
Arab on Radar,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Barbara Tucker,
ABBA,
Rakim,
Brand Nubian,
Quando Quango,
Junior Murvin,
Cecil Taylor,
Leonard Cohen,
Lyres,
Animal Collective,
Gastr Del Sol,
Icehouse,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Nirvana,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Residents,
Derrick May,
Chrome,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Archie Shepp,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Masters at Work,
Moss Icon,
Ultra Naté,
Erykah Badu,
Davy DMX,
Essential Logic,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Mojo Men,
Warsaw,
Reagan Youth,
The American Breed,
Q and Not U,
Zapp,
Iggy Pop,
Radio Birdman,
Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound.
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.