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 Nauru and from Toronto.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 guitar 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 Soul II Soul to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All Crispian St. Peters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oppenheimer Analysis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Louis and Bebe Barron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Sonics,
The Doors,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Vogues,
Surgeon,
Mantronix,
Isaac Hayes,
Blake Baxter,
Alison Limerick,
The Names,
Hasil Adkins,
Agent Orange,
John Lydon,
Scott Walker,
Sandy B,
Y Pants,
Nirvana,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Dark Day,
Monks,
Robert Görl,
Skaos,
the Soft Cell,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Fluxion,
Eric Dolphy,
Nik Kershaw,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Shoche,
The Monks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Urselle,
LL Cool J,
John Holt,
Delta 5,
Kurtis Blow,
Wings,
Jandek,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Eli Mardock,
Yaz,
Tubeway Army,
Reagan Youth,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Frankie Knuckles,
Marc Almond,
Pere Ubu,
Saccharine Trust,
Sarah Menescal,
Jesper Dahlback,
Grandmaster Flash,
Simply Red,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Mark Hollis,
Toni Rubio,
Flash Fearless,
FM Einheit,
Janne Schatter,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Black Moon,
Junior Murvin,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.