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 Suriname and from Accra.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Slits to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Guru Guru record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sight & Sound,
MDC,
The Birthday Party,
The Knickerbockers,
Eli Mardock,
T. Rex,
Lou Reed,
The Gories,
Gang Green,
Pantytec,
These Immortal Souls,
Can,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Mantronix,
Livin' Joy,
Intrusion,
Cecil Taylor,
Grauzone,
The Stooges,
Neu!,
Drexciya,
Japan,
the Human League,
Minnie Riperton,
John Holt,
Organ,
Shuggie Otis,
The Fugs,
The Music Machine,
Freddie Wadling,
Circle Jerks,
Neil Young,
Spoonie Gee,
Joyce Sims,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ice-T,
Q65,
Curtis Mayfield,
Goldenarms,
Liliput,
DJ Style,
Jeff Lynne,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lucky Dragons,
The Doobie Brothers,
Dead Boys,
Lungfish,
Eve St. Jones,
Roxette,
Barry Ungar,
Tom Boy,
The Names,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Inner City,
Sugar Minott,
The Gladiators,
The Selecter,
48th St. Collective,
Television Personalities,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Supertramp,
Lyres,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.