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 Micronesia and from Jakarta.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manila.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Y Pants to the grime 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 Blossom Toes. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Lydon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonny Sharrock 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?
Roxette,
Bobby Byrd,
The Victims,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Morten Harket,
Wolf Eyes,
Surgeon,
E-Dancer,
The Blues Magoos,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ronnie Foster,
The Moody Blues,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Blackbyrds,
Gil Scott Heron,
Robert Hood,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Davy DMX,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Scientists,
The Saints,
Soft Cell,
Television Personalities,
Aloha Tigers,
Panda Bear,
Zapp,
Flipper,
Bobby Sherman,
Nas,
The Seeds,
Dennis Brown,
New York Dolls,
Laurel Aitken,
Groovy Waters,
Charles Mingus,
Sex Pistols,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Fugazi,
Malaria!,
Kenny Larkin,
Spandau Ballet,
Idris Muhammad,
Crispian St. Peters,
Procol Harum,
Isaac Hayes,
John Cale,
Au Pairs,
The Walker Brothers,
the Slits,
Ten City,
Johnny Osbourne,
Blancmange,
Bizarre Inc.,
Los Fastidios,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Thee Headcoats,
Mantronix,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Second Layer,
Slick Rick,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.