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 Vanuatu and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Smog to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boogie Down Productions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Busters,
Josef K,
the Fania All-Stars,
Adolescents,
Robert Görl,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Girls At Our Best!,
Junior Murvin,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Hashim,
The Standells,
Soft Machine,
R.M.O.,
Eddi Front,
Johnny Osbourne,
Underground Resistance,
DJ Style,
Marvin Gaye,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rites of Spring,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Invisible,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Fear,
The United States of America,
Gerry Rafferty,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Jandek,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Blake Baxter,
Sonic Youth,
Nils Olav,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Barbara Tucker,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Last Poets,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Gap Band,
Pagans,
Television,
Derrick May,
Bad Manners,
Ludus,
Moby Grape,
Deepchord,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Sonics,
Outsiders,
Barry Ungar,
Michelle Simonal,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lightning Bolt,
the Human League,
Iggy Pop,
Fugazi,
Magma,
Dawn Penn,
X-Ray Spex,
Wally Richardson,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.