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 Bhutan and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 A Certain Ratio to the disco 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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Bauhaus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Sound Behaviour,
Deadbeat,
Bootsy Collins,
Porter Ricks,
the Bar-Kays,
Section 25,
Kerri Chandler,
Throbbing Gristle,
Zero Boys,
Crispy Ambulance,
X-Ray Spex,
Bill Wells,
Sight & Sound,
The Real Kids,
Yusef Lateef,
Blossom Toes,
Shuggie Otis,
Ornette Coleman,
Matthew Halsall,
The Gladiators,
The Busters,
Charles Mingus,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Barracudas,
Soul Sonic Force,
B.T. Express,
Terrestrial Tones,
Zapp,
Pharoah Sanders,
Peter and Kerry,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Althea and Donna,
Rotary Connection,
Moby Grape,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Saccharine Trust,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Bauhaus,
Avey Tare,
Gil Scott Heron,
Wally Richardson,
F. McDonald,
Judy Mowatt,
Sam Rivers,
Yaz,
Delon & Dalcan,
The United States of America,
Iggy Pop,
Soulsonic Force,
Black Bananas,
Eddi Front,
The Buckinghams,
Matthew Bourne,
Cybotron,
The Toasters,
Lightning Bolt,
New York Dolls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Archie Shepp,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.