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 Slovakia and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the snare 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 The Leaves to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Adolescents. All the underground hits.
All The Walker Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Zeros 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds 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?
Reagan Youth,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
Matthew Halsall,
T. Rex,
Pet Shop Boys,
Mission of Burma,
The Names,
Livin' Joy,
Agent Orange,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Andrew Hill,
Gil Scott Heron,
Wolf Eyes,
Leonard Cohen,
Deakin,
Index,
The Smoke,
Pierre Henry,
The Wake,
Aloha Tigers,
The Zeros,
Mars,
Camouflage,
Wasted Youth,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Mo-Dettes,
Barbara Tucker,
David Bowie,
Dennis Brown,
Rites of Spring,
Visage,
Throbbing Gristle,
Joe Finger,
Organ,
Lindisfarne,
Skarface,
The New Christs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Albert Ayler,
David Axelrod,
Tubeway Army,
Simply Red,
The Doors,
Inner City,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Derrick May,
MC5,
Infiniti,
X-Ray Spex,
This Heat,
Jeff Lynne,
Interpol,
John Holt,
EPMD,
Terrestrial Tones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Chris & Cosey,
Neu!,
Scratch Acid,
Boogie Down Productions,
Supertramp,
Cecil Taylor,
Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon.
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.