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 Iraq and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the oboe 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
PIL,
Siglo XX,
Danielle Patucci,
Alton Ellis,
the Soft Cell,
Masters at Work,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
kango's stein massive,
Kenny Larkin,
A Certain Ratio,
Hoover,
Charles Mingus,
Suburban Knight,
Reuben Wilson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
In Retrospect,
John Holt,
Gong,
Man Eating Sloth,
OOIOO,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Dead Boys,
Alphaville,
The Five Americans,
Wally Richardson,
Derrick May,
X-102,
Black Moon,
Cheater Slicks,
Pharoah Sanders,
KRS-One,
R.M.O.,
The Slits,
The Knickerbockers,
T.S.O.L.,
The Blues Magoos,
Funky Four + One,
Joey Negro,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Pulsallama,
CMW,
Alison Limerick,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Nico,
Circle Jerks,
Kerrie Biddell,
The New Christs,
Zapp,
Tropical Tobacco,
Erasure,
Urselle,
The Selecter,
Easy Going,
Malaria!,
Ken Boothe,
The Smiths,
Quando Quango,
Al Stewart,
The Pop Group,
Stetsasonic,
Oneida,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.