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 Ghana and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Gong to the dance 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 The Saints. All the underground hits.
All The Toasters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Slits,
Grauzone,
The Zeros,
Chris & Cosey,
Bobby Womack,
Wasted Youth,
Banda Bassotti,
Avey Tare,
One Last Wish,
Lyres,
T.S.O.L.,
Model 500,
Roger Hodgson,
48th St. Collective,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Symarip,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pagans,
K-Klass,
Piero Umiliani,
Crooked Eye,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Subhumans,
CMW,
Surgeon,
The Monochrome Set,
Rotary Connection,
Tears for Fears,
Kaleidoscope,
Trumans Water,
Pet Shop Boys,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Raincoats,
10cc,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Graham Central Station,
Albert Ayler,
Bush Tetras,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bill Near,
Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet,
Gabor Szabo,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Flag,
Hashim,
Ponytail,
Talk Talk,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Colin Newman,
Whodini,
The New Christs,
Man Eating Sloth,
Altered Images,
The Star Department,
Eli Mardock,
Iggy Pop,
Popol Vuh,
A Certain Ratio,
Brass Construction,
Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy, Harry Pussy.
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.