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 Namibia and from New York.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Von Mondo to the rock 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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All the Normal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Cecil Taylor,
OOIOO,
Supertramp,
Gregory Isaacs,
Deadbeat,
Arthur Verocai,
Drive Like Jehu,
cv313,
Scion,
The Angels of Light,
John Coltrane,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Suicide,
R.M.O.,
Stiv Bators,
Altered Images,
JFA,
New York Dolls,
Y Pants,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Infiniti,
Derrick May,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pagans,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Smoke,
Joe Smooth,
Sonic Youth,
The Slackers,
Agent Orange,
Simply Red,
Wasted Youth,
Bizarre Inc.,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fad Gadget,
Todd Rundgren,
Cheater Slicks,
Chrome,
LL Cool J,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Tears for Fears,
Rod Modell,
David Bowie,
Deakin,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Young Rascals,
Ronan,
June of 44,
Robert Wyatt,
Newcleus,
The American Breed,
Symarip,
The Fire Engines,
ABC,
June Days,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.