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 South Sudan and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 snare 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 Donald Byrd 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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Chris & Cosey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultimate Spinach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Silicon Teens,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Smiths,
the Slits,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bronski Beat,
Country Teasers,
Big Daddy Kane,
Don Cherry,
Wasted Youth,
Anakelly,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Section 25,
The Fall,
Urselle,
MDC,
Agent Orange,
Gang of Four,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Masters at Work,
the Normal,
X-Ray Spex,
Blossom Toes,
Erykah Badu,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Cure,
Groovy Waters,
Joe Finger,
10cc,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Names,
Sonic Youth,
Peter & Gordon,
The Last Poets,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Mummies,
The J.B.'s,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Depeche Mode,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Crooked Eye,
CMW,
Gang Green,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Happenings,
the Bar-Kays,
Thee Headcoats,
Black Bananas,
Young Marble Giants,
China Crisis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Golliwogs,
The Buckinghams,
Television Personalities,
The Star Department,
Skaos,
Cymande,
Jesper Dahlback,
Minny Pops,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.