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 Nicaragua and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Underground Resistance to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Kerrie Biddell. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ossler,
Frankie Knuckles,
Kool Moe Dee,
Pantaleimon,
Mandrill,
Reuben Wilson,
Grey Daturas,
Jacob Miller,
Johnny Clarke,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Neon Judgement,
48th St. Collective,
Lebanon Hanover,
Scientists,
Fela Kuti,
Thompson Twins,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lakeside,
The Cramps,
Crooked Eye,
Sister Nancy,
Blossom Toes,
Panda Bear,
John Lydon,
Tears for Fears,
Cybotron,
The Moody Blues,
Pulsallama,
Little Man,
Deepchord,
Roxy Music,
China Crisis,
Procol Harum,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Simply Red,
Pere Ubu,
Nik Kershaw,
Joe Finger,
David Axelrod,
Rod Modell,
Easy Going,
Mission of Burma,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Human League,
Niagra,
Zapp,
Sex Pistols,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
FM Einheit,
The Dirtbombs,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Soft Machine,
Eden Ahbez,
Popol Vuh,
Minnie Riperton,
Drexciya,
Tom Boy,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.