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 Togo and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Man Eating Sloth to the grime 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 Drive Like Jehu. All the underground hits.
All Roxette tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rod Modell,
The Monks,
Colin Newman,
Tres Demented,
Mandrill,
Henry Cow,
Suburban Knight,
Eden Ahbez,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Flash Fearless,
Ice-T,
L. Decosne,
Neu!,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Michelle Simonal,
A Certain Ratio,
Alphaville,
Bang On A Can,
Warsaw,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Pere Ubu,
Minny Pops,
Sonic Youth,
Don Cherry,
Underground Resistance,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Pylon,
Peter & Gordon,
Pole,
Godley & Creme,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Sonics,
Dave Gahan,
New Order,
John Foxx,
Jeff Lynne,
LL Cool J,
Pulsallama,
Bush Tetras,
Ralphi Rosario,
Spoonie Gee,
Cal Tjader,
Inner City,
Rapeman,
Sex Pistols,
The Alarm Clocks,
Marmalade,
Malaria!,
the Swans,
Warren Ellis,
Cymande,
Shuggie Otis,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Index,
Cecil Taylor,
Spandau Ballet,
Y Pants,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Byron Stingily,
Tommy Roe,
Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon.
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.