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 Italy and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Cowsills to the punk 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 Black Sheep. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Görl record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s 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 Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
Connie Case,
Tres Demented,
Susan Cadogan,
Colin Newman,
Arcadia,
Gang of Four,
Lindisfarne,
Wings,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Nirvana,
Youth Brigade,
June Days,
Main Source,
The Fire Engines,
The Modern Lovers,
Qualms,
The Techniques,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bad Manners,
Bluetip,
Robert Wyatt,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Big Daddy Kane,
Tears for Fears,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Hoover,
Tommy Roe,
Josef K,
Sun City Girls,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Electric Prunes,
Hashim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Fugazi,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Raincoats,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lakeside,
Stockholm Monsters,
Soft Machine,
Fluxion,
Dennis Brown,
Mars,
Todd Terry,
Ice-T,
The Mojo Men,
Nick Fraelich,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Negative Approach,
The Toasters,
Lalo Schifrin,
Skarface,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Leaves,
Marine Girls,
The Star Department,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.