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 Malaysia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in 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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator 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 Be Bop Deluxe to the jazz 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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All DJ Style tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Five Americans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
The United States of America,
Laurel Aitken,
The Five Americans,
Pantaleimon,
Sister Nancy,
Fugazi,
In Retrospect,
Banda Bassotti,
The Neon Judgement,
The Cure,
Magma,
The Divine Comedy,
Black Pus,
Ossler,
Todd Terry,
Zero Boys,
Dave Gahan,
Wasted Youth,
Nation of Ulysses,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Amon Düül II,
Soft Machine,
Blancmange,
48th St. Collective,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Byron Stingily,
Minor Threat,
Hardrive,
CMW,
The Last Poets,
Cybotron,
Joyce Sims,
Brass Construction,
Tim Buckley,
Isaac Hayes,
The Birthday Party,
Sound Behaviour,
Glambeats Corp.,
Infiniti,
John Lydon,
Loose Ends,
Sun City Girls,
Skarface,
DJ Style,
Al Stewart,
Stiv Bators,
Josef K,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Slave,
Tom Boy,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Howard Jones,
Qualms,
Brand Nubian,
Monks,
Guru Guru,
Barry Ungar,
The Knickerbockers,
Grandmaster Flash,
Black Bananas,
Terry Callier,
Gang of Four,
Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads.
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.