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 New Zealand and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Offenders to the dance 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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Leonard Cohen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Bourne,
Surgeon,
Ossler,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Crash Course in Science,
Newcleus,
Bronski Beat,
Robert Görl,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ice-T,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Trumans Water,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Harmonia,
Marcia Griffiths,
Supertramp,
Marine Girls,
the Normal,
Glenn Branca,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bush Tetras,
The Saints,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Piero Umiliani,
Don Cherry,
Lebanon Hanover,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Walker Brothers,
Reagan Youth,
Japan,
Symarip,
The Last Poets,
The Dave Clark Five,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Dead Boys,
Ultra Naté,
Sam Rivers,
Deadbeat,
Sun Ra,
Henry Cow,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sparks,
Sex Pistols,
The Fortunes,
Glambeats Corp.,
Au Pairs,
Drexciya,
Bluetip,
Fad Gadget,
Guru Guru,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lou Christie,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Tom Boy,
Slave,
The Evens,
Black Flag,
Flamin' Groovies,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
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.