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 Somalia and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Tropical Tobacco 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Parry Music tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Buzzcocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Gories,
Unrelated Segments,
Tubeway Army,
The Martian,
Unwound,
MC5,
Hardrive,
Das Ding,
Soul II Soul,
Blake Baxter,
The Smoke,
The Gladiators,
Charles Mingus,
Oblivians,
The Golliwogs,
Icehouse,
Skriet,
Bobby Byrd,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Aaron Thompson,
PIL,
Au Pairs,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Gap Band,
Rekid,
The Mojo Men,
Jeff Lynne,
Pantaleimon,
Donny Hathaway,
The Trojans,
Suburban Knight,
Los Fastidios,
Connie Case,
Rod Modell,
DJ Sneak,
Schoolly D,
Mark Hollis,
The Durutti Column,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Stetsasonic,
Von Mondo,
David Bowie,
Aural Exciters,
The Selecter,
Main Source,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Happenings,
The Doobie Brothers,
Roxy Music,
Lightning Bolt,
The Leaves,
Susan Cadogan,
Rosa Yemen,
KRS-One,
OOIOO,
Parry Music,
Barrington Levy,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.