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 New Zealand and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the 808 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 Dawn Penn to the dance 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 Blossom Toes. All the underground hits.
All Kerri Chandler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Young Rascals record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Soul II Soul,
Sex Pistols,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Eric B and Rakim,
Y Pants,
T. Rex,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mandrill,
Malaria!,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sällskapet,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Pierre Henry,
Grauzone,
Section 25,
Alphaville,
Rhythm & Sound,
Eric Dolphy,
The Blackbyrds,
Ultravox,
Radiopuhelimet,
Schoolly D,
Metal Thangz,
David McCallum,
Siglo XX,
This Heat,
The Vogues,
The Evens,
Aaron Thompson,
The Beau Brummels,
the Human League,
Gang Green,
Index,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
World's Most,
Roxy Music,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Popol Vuh,
Rotary Connection,
Stereo Dub,
Crispy Ambulance,
Cluster,
Can,
James Chance & The Contortions,
LL Cool J,
Patti Smith,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Dead Boys,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Henry Cow,
Unwound,
Mark Hollis,
The Knickerbockers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tim Buckley,
Brick,
The Fuzztones,
Pantytec,
James White and The Blacks,
The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs.
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.