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 Chad and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Siglo XX to the grime 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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Barry Ungar,
Interpol,
FM Einheit,
The Moleskins,
Lyres,
Joy Division,
Cameo,
The New Christs,
Guru Guru,
In Retrospect,
the Swans,
The Litter,
Nils Olav,
Angry Samoans,
Chrome,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Intrusion,
Buzzcocks,
The Human League,
Derrick May,
Skriet,
Toni Rubio,
Groovy Waters,
Inner City,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Urselle,
Reagan Youth,
Cluster,
Amazonics,
Ornette Coleman,
Flamin' Groovies,
Model 500,
Brick,
Arcadia,
Jeff Lynne,
PIL,
John Holt,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kerrie Biddell,
Aloha Tigers,
The Busters,
Amon Düül,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bush Tetras,
The Shadows of Knight,
A Certain Ratio,
Tres Demented,
The American Breed,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Fugazi,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Vladislav Delay,
Marvin Gaye,
The Modern Lovers,
Jacques Brel,
the Fania All-Stars,
Chris Corsano,
The Cure,
Dennis Brown,
The Count Five,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.