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 Suriname and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Matthew Bourne to the jazz 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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All Pharoah Sanders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro 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 Slits,
Eli Mardock,
Suburban Knight,
Minnie Riperton,
Chris & Cosey,
Deakin,
Howard Jones,
Funky Four + One,
the Soft Cell,
Procol Harum,
David Axelrod,
Severed Heads,
Can,
Tres Demented,
Black Flag,
The Vogues,
Nik Kershaw,
Oneida,
a-ha,
Carl Craig,
Eurythmics,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Blossom Toes,
Judy Mowatt,
Crime,
The Dirtbombs,
James White and The Blacks,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
D'Angelo,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bill Near,
the Bar-Kays,
Blake Baxter,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Trojans,
MDC,
China Crisis,
The Slits,
Sällskapet,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Scan 7,
Roger Hodgson,
Ice-T,
Leonard Cohen,
Al Stewart,
Scratch Acid,
Los Fastidios,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rekid,
Blancmange,
Man Eating Sloth,
Metal Thangz,
The Stooges,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Index,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Moody Blues,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.