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 Mauritania and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Hong Kong.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Soulsonic Force to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Section 25,
Graham Central Station,
The Blackbyrds,
Metal Thangz,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Soul II Soul,
Boz Scaggs,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Birthday Party,
Oneida,
Half Japanese,
ABBA,
Wings,
The Trojans,
Wire,
Blancmange,
Quando Quango,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rosa Yemen,
David McCallum,
Yaz,
In Retrospect,
Funkadelic,
Amon Düül,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Alarm Clocks,
It's A Beautiful Day,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Minor Threat,
Bush Tetras,
The Vogues,
Soul Sonic Force,
Eric B and Rakim,
Fear,
The Electric Prunes,
The Gun Club,
Delta 5,
The Young Rascals,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Motions,
Pylon,
David Axelrod,
Pole,
The Standells,
Mandrill,
These Immortal Souls,
Lalann,
The Moody Blues,
Babytalk,
The Offenders,
Scott Walker,
The Detroit Cobras,
Freddie Wadling,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Glenn Branca,
Frankie Knuckles,
The American Breed,
Tom Boy,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Neil Young,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pere Ubu,
Kerrie Biddell,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.