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 Cape Verde and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Henry Cow to the rock 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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mighty Diamonds 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Remains,
Ice-T,
Mad Mike,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Evens,
Easy Going,
The Star Department,
Liliput,
PIL,
Matthew Bourne,
DJ Style,
Nick Fraelich,
Sun Ra,
Fela Kuti,
The Techniques,
The Seeds,
Metal Thangz,
Jimmy McGriff,
Oneida,
Stiv Bators,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Q65,
The Fortunes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Big Daddy Kane,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Human League,
Robert Wyatt,
Bobby Byrd,
The Dirtbombs,
Todd Terry,
Camouflage,
Unwound,
Barry Ungar,
The Happenings,
Thee Headcoats,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Detroit Cobras,
Black Bananas,
The Moody Blues,
Bootsy Collins,
Delon & Dalcan,
Stereo Dub,
Crooked Eye,
The Doobie Brothers,
Avey Tare,
The Beau Brummels,
Scientists,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Adolescents,
The Gap Band,
Simply Red,
Massinfluence,
Amazonics,
Sexual Harrassment,
Schoolly D,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Swans,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Martian,
Ludus,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.