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 Thailand and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Winnipeg.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Excepter to the crunk 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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobbi Humphrey 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jimmy McGriff record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Morten Harket,
The Flesh Eaters,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Black Dice,
Stockholm Monsters,
Procol Harum,
Mary Jane Girls,
John Holt,
Skarface,
Liliput,
The Smiths,
Electric Light Orchestra,
David Axelrod,
Ornette Coleman,
Radiohead,
the Bar-Kays,
Deadbeat,
Pulsallama,
Unwound,
Toni Rubio,
E-Dancer,
Gang Green,
Quadrant,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lyres,
DNA,
Lakeside,
Deakin,
Shoche,
New Age Steppers,
Fela Kuti,
Cymande,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kenny Larkin,
The Neon Judgement,
Maurizio,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Jeru the Damaja,
Traffic Nightmare,
Barry Ungar,
The Zeros,
Patti Smith,
La Düsseldorf,
ABBA,
The Remains,
Bauhaus,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Joe Smooth,
Scrapy,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Monks,
Hashim,
Terrestrial Tones,
David McCallum,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Blake Baxter,
Rites of Spring,
Ituana, Ituana, Ituana, Ituana.
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.