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 Swaziland and from Halifax.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Dual Sessions to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Copeland record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Chris & Cosey,
The Toasters,
Radio Birdman,
Stiv Bators,
The Vogues,
a-ha,
Soul II Soul,
The Seeds,
Easy Going,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Modern Lovers,
In Retrospect,
Sun City Girls,
Marc Almond,
Sugar Minott,
Surgeon,
Tres Demented,
Quadrant,
Fugazi,
Bluetip,
June of 44,
The Sound,
Tubeway Army,
David McCallum,
The Pretty Things,
London Community Gospel Choir,
CMW,
Alton Ellis,
Y Pants,
The Martian,
Desert Stars,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sound Behaviour,
The United States of America,
Suburban Knight,
Big Daddy Kane,
Newcleus,
Supertramp,
Lalann,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Joe Smooth,
The Monochrome Set,
Moby Grape,
Duran Duran,
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott Heron,
Au Pairs,
The Index,
Peter and Kerry,
Quando Quango,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Don Cherry,
Minor Threat,
Sällskapet,
These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls.
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.