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 Vanuatu and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 spring reverb 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 Lucky Dragons to the punk 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 The Moody Blues. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Doors,
Circle Jerks,
Heaven 17,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Gap Band,
New Order,
Godley & Creme,
Country Teasers,
The Golliwogs,
Scion,
Prince Buster,
X-102,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Bar-Kays,
Fatback Band,
Spandau Ballet,
The Human League,
Easy Going,
Hashim,
The Toasters,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Delta 5,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Fear,
AZ,
T. Rex,
Man Parrish,
Frankie Knuckles,
Don Cherry,
Davy DMX,
Panda Bear,
Iggy Pop,
Slick Rick,
Darondo,
John Foxx,
X-Ray Spex,
Gichy Dan,
Terrestrial Tones,
Piero Umiliani,
Masters at Work,
In Retrospect,
K-Klass,
Tom Boy,
The Durutti Column,
Blancmange,
The Divine Comedy,
Jacques Brel,
The Sonics,
Essential Logic,
Bauhaus,
Andrew Hill,
China Crisis,
Gang Green,
Monks,
Basic Channel,
Moebius,
Kerri Chandler,
Angry Samoans,
Model 500,
Kurtis Blow,
Tears for Fears,
Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd..
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.