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 Finland and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Swell Maps to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All World's Most tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Jesus and Mary Chain record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
Eli Mardock,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mad Mike,
The Associates,
Black Bananas,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Faust,
Cymande,
Robert Görl,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Talk Talk,
Derrick May,
Easy Going,
Connie Case,
Heaven 17,
Von Mondo,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Main Source,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Big Daddy Kane,
Donald Byrd,
The Last Poets,
Tim Buckley,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Country Teasers,
Dave Gahan,
Gastr Del Sol,
Kaleidoscope,
the Association,
48th St. Collective,
The Golliwogs,
Danielle Patucci,
Brand Nubian,
LL Cool J,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kool Moe Dee,
Spandau Ballet,
Quadrant,
Thee Headcoats,
Simply Red,
Lyres,
Schoolly D,
Hashim,
Qualms,
Terry Callier,
Michelle Simonal,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Neon Judgement,
Adolescents,
Dorothy Ashby,
Suburban Knight,
Roxy Music,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Avey Tare,
Alice Coltrane,
The Happenings,
The Busters,
Severed Heads,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.