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 Sri Lanka and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 oboe 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 Howard Jones to the dance 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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moby Grape,
Monolake,
The Fire Engines,
Kaleidoscope,
Black Sheep,
Delon & Dalcan,
Roger Hodgson,
Ultra Naté,
Matthew Bourne,
The Gap Band,
Tim Buckley,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Make Up,
Mary Jane Girls,
David Bowie,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Andrew Hill,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Scan 7,
The Slits,
Todd Rundgren,
Iggy Pop,
Moss Icon,
Saccharine Trust,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
LL Cool J,
Zero Boys,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Television,
Lou Reed,
Swans,
Procol Harum,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Funky Four + One,
Cheater Slicks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lungfish,
MC5,
The Sonics,
Kurtis Blow,
Junior Murvin,
Toni Rubio,
10cc,
Vladislav Delay,
New York Dolls,
Japan,
Man Eating Sloth,
Blake Baxter,
Slick Rick,
Delta 5,
The Knickerbockers,
Moebius,
Radio Birdman,
The Dirtbombs,
Robert Görl,
The Wake,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soul Sonic Force,
Dead Boys,
Blancmange,
The Alarm Clocks,
Jacques Brel,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.