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 Thailand and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Motorama record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Rundgren,
The Leaves,
Jesper Dahlback,
Mantronix,
Schoolly D,
The Doobie Brothers,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Robert Görl,
The Gladiators,
Tom Boy,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Scratch Acid,
DNA,
Alphaville,
Panda Bear,
The Music Machine,
Jerry Gold Smith,
10cc,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Mark Hollis,
Ituana,
Bobby Byrd,
Liliput,
Joy Division,
Duran Duran,
Little Man,
Half Japanese,
Rekid,
Letta Mbulu,
The Slits,
Marcia Griffiths,
Avey Tare,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
JFA,
Brass Construction,
Swans,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Whodini,
Grey Daturas,
Gang of Four,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Zeros,
Pet Shop Boys,
Delta 5,
James White and The Blacks,
Camberwell Now,
Sight & Sound,
Robert Wyatt,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Aaron Thompson,
Tres Demented,
The Toasters,
Agent Orange,
Depeche Mode,
Peter & Gordon,
Dark Day,
Crash Course in Science,
Dorothy Ashby,
D'Angelo,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.