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 Eritrea and from Lagos.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 rock 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 Buckinghams. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dave Clark Five 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Smog,
The Real Kids,
Avey Tare,
Aloha Tigers,
June of 44,
Deepchord,
Lungfish,
Tom Boy,
Arcadia,
Grey Daturas,
Fad Gadget,
Spoonie Gee,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Colin Newman,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Eurythmics,
Fat Boys,
The Doobie Brothers,
Symarip,
K-Klass,
Crooked Eye,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Smoke,
The Count Five,
Dennis Brown,
Patti Smith,
Television,
Don Cherry,
Icehouse,
In Retrospect,
Nico,
Suburban Knight,
Barrington Levy,
Nirvana,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Offenders,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Aaron Thompson,
Magazine,
Pussy Galore,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Black Flag,
Nick Fraelich,
Severed Heads,
the Slits,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Parry Music,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Litter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ludus,
D'Angelo,
Minny Pops,
Joe Finger,
PIL,
Brand Nubian,
Urselle,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The New Christs,
The Pop Group,
The Sound,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.