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 Slovenia and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft to the dance 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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Idris Muhammad,
Fugazi,
The Velvet Underground,
Scientists,
Laurel Aitken,
The Raincoats,
Bang On A Can,
Pulsallama,
Sandy B,
The Names,
Soul II Soul,
Grauzone,
Massinfluence,
Siglo XX,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Golliwogs,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jacob Miller,
The Grass Roots,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Dorothy Ashby,
T. Rex,
Nik Kershaw,
Pharoah Sanders,
Saccharine Trust,
The Fire Engines,
Nas,
Tres Demented,
Slave,
ABC,
The Toasters,
Unwound,
Ten City,
Marine Girls,
Bill Wells,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Pop Group,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Q65,
Yusef Lateef,
John Foxx,
Rapeman,
Kayak,
Livin' Joy,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sex Pistols,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Tubeway Army,
The Dirtbombs,
Subhumans,
Newcleus,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Funky Four + One,
Popol Vuh,
Janne Schatter,
Average White Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne.
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.