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 Comoros and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin 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 Guru Guru to the techno 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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All MDC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Idris Muhammad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Fugazi,
Mars,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ultravox,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The American Breed,
Gang Starr,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Angels of Light,
Blake Baxter,
Sun Ra,
Con Funk Shun,
Warsaw,
John Lydon,
Al Stewart,
The Moody Blues,
Cybotron,
Spandau Ballet,
Yellowson,
the Slits,
Q and Not U,
the Germs,
Banda Bassotti,
The Victims,
Jandek,
UT,
The Move,
Bauhaus,
Tom Boy,
Wings,
Saccharine Trust,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rhythm & Sound,
Joensuu 1685,
Kenny Larkin,
Michelle Simonal,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
John Coltrane,
Jerry's Kids,
The Shadows of Knight,
Morten Harket,
Silicon Teens,
Lalann,
Crooked Eye,
Slick Rick,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Boredoms,
Joey Negro,
Minor Threat,
Judy Mowatt,
FM Einheit,
Franke,
Peter and Kerry,
Joe Finger,
Minny Pops,
The Techniques,
X-102,
Procol Harum,
Sixth Finger,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.