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 Swaziland and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Man Eating Sloth. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neil Young & Crazy Horse record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Vainqueur,
Harry Pussy,
Los Fastidios,
Visage,
Guru Guru,
The Modern Lovers,
The Monochrome Set,
Qualms,
The Blackbyrds,
Big Daddy Kane,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Dave Clark Five,
the Bar-Kays,
Zero Boys,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tubeway Army,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Erykah Badu,
Kurtis Blow,
Stetsasonic,
The Stooges,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Malaria!,
Average White Band,
the Normal,
Surgeon,
Throbbing Gristle,
Subhumans,
Mad Mike,
The Move,
Kaleidoscope,
Agent Orange,
Altered Images,
New Order,
Gang of Four,
Scan 7,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Trojans,
Grey Daturas,
James White and The Blacks,
Jacques Brel,
Gang Green,
Junior Murvin,
Avey Tare,
The Blues Magoos,
Barrington Levy,
Jeff Lynne,
R.M.O.,
Oneida,
The Cramps,
Royal Trux,
Cecil Taylor,
Vladislav Delay,
Depeche Mode,
Supertramp,
Marvin Gaye,
Index,
Radio Birdman,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.