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 Zimbabwe 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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Human League to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover 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 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 linndrum and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
Stockholm Monsters,
Subhumans,
Agitation Free,
The Electric Prunes,
The Evens,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Moebius,
Circle Jerks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Delta 5,
Hasil Adkins,
Cameo,
The Beau Brummels,
Nils Olav,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Radiopuhelimet,
Joey Negro,
Fear,
Nik Kershaw,
Stetsasonic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Eric Dolphy,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Tremeloes,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cheater Slicks,
Soft Cell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Warren Ellis,
Matthew Bourne,
Masters at Work,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Morten Harket,
Pantaleimon,
Groovy Waters,
The Cure,
Grey Daturas,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Moody Blues,
Roy Ayers,
Sparks,
David Bowie,
Parry Music,
The Detroit Cobras,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
A Certain Ratio,
The American Breed,
Public Enemy,
Mandrill,
The Music Machine,
Marshall Jefferson,
Y Pants,
Suburban Knight,
The Black Dice,
Grandmaster Flash,
Crime,
China Crisis,
Depeche Mode,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.