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 Ethiopia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Depeche Mode to the rap 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 Banda Bassotti. All the underground hits.
All La Düsseldorf tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Negative Approach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Donald Byrd,
Severed Heads,
Silicon Teens,
Camberwell Now,
Black Sheep,
Bootsy Collins,
Ten City,
Judy Mowatt,
Gang Green,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Electric Prunes,
Hashim,
The Cure,
Man Parrish,
Kevin Saunderson,
X-Ray Spex,
Dawn Penn,
The Wake,
Alison Limerick,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Graham Central Station,
Fela Kuti,
The Modern Lovers,
Ronan,
Camouflage,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eli Mardock,
Smog,
Soft Machine,
The Durutti Column,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Kurtis Blow,
MC5,
Jacob Miller,
Minutemen,
Deepchord,
Ken Boothe,
Stetsasonic,
Danielle Patucci,
the Normal,
Simply Red,
Infiniti,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Slackers,
Stiv Bators,
Johnny Osbourne,
Be Bop Deluxe,
These Immortal Souls,
Peter & Gordon,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Fugs,
Procol Harum,
Cymande,
Colin Newman,
Drexciya,
Magma,
Country Teasers,
The Gladiators,
Absolute Body Control,
Darondo,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.