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 Dominica and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and New York.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 J.B.'s to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Underground Resistance. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
JFA,
Depeche Mode,
Gregory Isaacs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Shoche,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Skarface,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Pylon,
Blossom Toes,
The Fugs,
The Grass Roots,
Lindisfarne,
Letta Mbulu,
E-Dancer,
The American Breed,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Busters,
Supertramp,
Silicon Teens,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pantaleimon,
Deakin,
Soft Cell,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kayak,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joe Smooth,
Mary Jane Girls,
Visage,
China Crisis,
R.M.O.,
The Black Dice,
Camouflage,
Nik Kershaw,
Babytalk,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Roxette,
Sonny Sharrock,
Rotary Connection,
Cluster,
The Slackers,
Main Source,
Deadbeat,
Ultra Naté,
Royal Trux,
Heaven 17,
Henry Cow,
The Music Machine,
Brothers Johnson,
Television,
Tommy Roe,
the Fania All-Stars,
Arcadia,
Brick,
New York Dolls,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Joy Division,
Sun Ra,
Derrick May,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.