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 St Lucia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Gang of Four to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Blancmange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Black Pus,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
F. McDonald,
UT,
Joe Finger,
Kenny Larkin,
Marc Almond,
Rakim,
48th St. Collective,
Jesper Dahlback,
Youth Brigade,
Visage,
Bluetip,
Scrapy,
The Litter,
The Evens,
Faraquet,
Flash Fearless,
X-101,
Siglo XX,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bill Near,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Infiniti,
Pantytec,
The American Breed,
The Standells,
Simply Red,
Tom Boy,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Radio Birdman,
Sarah Menescal,
New Order,
Ronnie Foster,
Darondo,
Black Flag,
T.S.O.L.,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lou Reed,
Iggy Pop,
Porter Ricks,
Rosa Yemen,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Rites of Spring,
Hot Snakes,
Procol Harum,
Yazoo,
Excepter,
The Grass Roots,
Sound Behaviour,
Hoover,
Ken Boothe,
The Walker Brothers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Donald Byrd,
Sonic Youth,
The Divine Comedy,
Outsiders,
Minny Pops,
Marmalade,
Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms.
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.