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 Kuwait and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 sitar 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 Simply Red to the grime 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Yazoo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rod Modell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Popol Vuh,
The Electric Prunes,
Pole,
Pussy Galore,
Depeche Mode,
Jacques Brel,
Barry Ungar,
The Fire Engines,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Infiniti,
Au Pairs,
Fluxion,
Ultimate Spinach,
Tears for Fears,
Basic Channel,
the Normal,
The Black Dice,
Donald Byrd,
Al Stewart,
Mad Mike,
John Holt,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
ABC,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Gories,
Bobby Womack,
The Mojo Men,
Heaven 17,
Chris & Cosey,
The Smoke,
Quadrant,
Marc Almond,
The Golliwogs,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jeff Lynne,
Susan Cadogan,
Dawn Penn,
Traffic Nightmare,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Arab on Radar,
Talk Talk,
Funky Four + One,
Kenny Larkin,
Funkadelic,
David McCallum,
Ken Boothe,
Blossom Toes,
Blake Baxter,
Stetsasonic,
Matthew Bourne,
Public Image Ltd.,
Derrick May,
Aswad,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Subhumans,
Eden Ahbez,
Connie Case,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.