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 Pakistan and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the rap 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 The Searchers. All the underground hits.
All K-Klass tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Osbourne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
The Monks,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Cecil Taylor,
Faust,
Pole,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
John Holt,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rotary Connection,
Wolf Eyes,
Deadbeat,
Quadrant,
Camberwell Now,
Boogie Down Productions,
Idris Muhammad,
Skaos,
The Pop Group,
Rufus Thomas,
Metal Thangz,
Toni Rubio,
Hasil Adkins,
Massinfluence,
Main Source,
Eddi Front,
Dave Gahan,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Slits,
Magma,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Public Image Ltd.,
Tomorrow,
Heaven 17,
Porter Ricks,
the Germs,
Alton Ellis,
Popol Vuh,
Vainqueur,
La Düsseldorf,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Human League,
The Searchers,
Bobby Sherman,
Underground Resistance,
The Angels of Light,
Alice Coltrane,
Jacques Brel,
Donald Byrd,
Jacob Miller,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Association,
Chris & Cosey,
Ornette Coleman,
The Alarm Clocks,
Chris Corsano,
LL Cool J,
The Standells,
Harry Pussy,
Oblivians,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.