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 Finland and from Edmonton.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Masters at Work to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Excepter. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley 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 sitar and a mellotron 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 theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June Days,
Lucky Dragons,
Howard Jones,
DNA,
Ronnie Foster,
Don Cherry,
Country Teasers,
Charles Mingus,
Motorama,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Fela Kuti,
Neil Young,
The Walker Brothers,
Patti Smith,
Yellowson,
The Doors,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Gastr Del Sol,
Joe Smooth,
Ohio Players,
Flipper,
Graham Central Station,
The United States of America,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Move,
Danielle Patucci,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Can,
Von Mondo,
Blancmange,
Camouflage,
Matthew Halsall,
Mr. Review,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lungfish,
Tropical Tobacco,
Maleditus Sound,
Grauzone,
Kurtis Blow,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Todd Rundgren,
Roger Hodgson,
The Neon Judgement,
Eric Copeland,
Sound Behaviour,
Max Romeo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Unwound,
Joyce Sims,
Desert Stars,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sister Nancy,
Fat Boys,
Lou Christie,
The Electric Prunes,
Ultimate Spinach,
the Association,
Minnie Riperton,
Morten Harket,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Evens,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.