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 Estonia and from Beijing.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Basic Channel to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Selecter,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Al Stewart,
Scientists,
The Gap Band,
The Gladiators,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Seeds,
Soft Cell,
Shuggie Otis,
Saccharine Trust,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
New York Dolls,
June Days,
Johnny Osbourne,
Eric B and Rakim,
Donald Byrd,
CMW,
Porter Ricks,
Accadde A,
X-Ray Spex,
The Trojans,
R.M.O.,
Organ,
Jeff Lynne,
The American Breed,
Mission of Burma,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sandy B,
Grauzone,
Nas,
Althea and Donna,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Yellowson,
Sun Ra,
Matthew Halsall,
Suburban Knight,
Lou Christie,
David McCallum,
Visage,
Radiopuhelimet,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Television Personalities,
Tres Demented,
UT,
Moby Grape,
Roxette,
The Fire Engines,
Circle Jerks,
Kerri Chandler,
The New Christs,
World's Most,
These Immortal Souls,
Q and Not U,
Pagans,
The Gun Club,
Minutemen,
ABC,
Black Sheep,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.