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 Russia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Taipei.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Barclay James Harvest to the electroclash 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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Vogues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lee Hazlewood,
The Divine Comedy,
Kerri Chandler,
Massinfluence,
the Soft Cell,
The Mojo Men,
The Fire Engines,
Marcia Griffiths,
UT,
the Fania All-Stars,
Archie Shepp,
Agitation Free,
Glenn Branca,
The New Christs,
Yellowson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flipper,
Cal Tjader,
The Stooges,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Essential Logic,
Blake Baxter,
Cheater Slicks,
Buzzcocks,
Bobby Womack,
The Busters,
The Last Poets,
Rakim,
Joyce Sims,
Faust,
Saccharine Trust,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Man Parrish,
Donald Byrd,
Dead Boys,
June of 44,
The Victims,
The Grass Roots,
Black Moon,
The Evens,
Agent Orange,
Albert Ayler,
Symarip,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Heaven 17,
Scratch Acid,
Camberwell Now,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sound Behaviour,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
Traffic Nightmare,
Thompson Twins,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Dirtbombs,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Graham Central Station,
The Flesh Eaters,
Joe Smooth,
Nils Olav,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.