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 Sierra Leone and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Toronto and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 guitar 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 Prince Buster to the electroclash 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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rites of Spring,
The Grass Roots,
Nas,
Section 25,
Sugar Minott,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Howard Jones,
Lindisfarne,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Excepter,
Little Man,
Piero Umiliani,
Letta Mbulu,
Niagra,
Brand Nubian,
The Moody Blues,
Amon Düül II,
Eric B and Rakim,
La Düsseldorf,
Intrusion,
8 Eyed Spy,
Pulsallama,
Robert Hood,
The Evens,
Roxy Music,
Freddie Wadling,
Rosa Yemen,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Standells,
The Red Krayola,
Avey Tare,
Jeff Mills,
In Retrospect,
Johnny Clarke,
Nik Kershaw,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Mojo Men,
Symarip,
The Real Kids,
Kas Product,
Marshall Jefferson,
Adolescents,
Terry Callier,
Fugazi,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Don Cherry,
The Gories,
Shoche,
Alice Coltrane,
a-ha,
Joensuu 1685,
The Residents,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Barbara Tucker,
The Human League,
Roxette,
Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters, Aural Exciters.
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.