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 Mozambique and from Jakarta.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the clarinet 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 John Foxx to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kevin Saunderson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Sherman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Eve St. Jones,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Goldenarms,
Excepter,
Harry Pussy,
John Cale,
Scratch Acid,
KRS-One,
MDC,
Roger Hodgson,
Outsiders,
Echospace,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Peter & Gordon,
La Düsseldorf,
the Slits,
Country Teasers,
Delon & Dalcan,
Piero Umiliani,
Reagan Youth,
Mandrill,
Pantytec,
Skarface,
Index,
the Human League,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bobby Sherman,
DNA,
Laurel Aitken,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dark Day,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Arab on Radar,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sugar Minott,
Jandek,
The Count Five,
UT,
Ponytail,
Depeche Mode,
Adolescents,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Rosa Yemen,
Bizarre Inc.,
Accadde A,
Bronski Beat,
Girls At Our Best!,
Black Flag,
The Fire Engines,
David McCallum,
Yazoo,
Cal Tjader,
James White and The Blacks,
Byron Stingily,
Bush Tetras,
Graham Central Station,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Nick Fraelich,
Audionom, Audionom, Audionom, Audionom.
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.