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 Nigeria and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 Leaves to the rock 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 Tom Boy. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Con Funk Shun record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis 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?
MC5,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Charles Mingus,
Skaos,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lucky Dragons,
Black Sheep,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ludus,
Nation of Ulysses,
Maleditus Sound,
DNA,
The Star Department,
The Cowsills,
Iggy Pop,
Flash Fearless,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Can,
Franke,
10cc,
Adolescents,
Aural Exciters,
The Velvet Underground,
CMW,
Stereo Dub,
Black Moon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lakeside,
AZ,
Skarface,
The Slits,
48th St. Collective,
Don Cherry,
Reuben Wilson,
Brass Construction,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
Nik Kershaw,
The Fall,
Sixth Finger,
Chrome,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bill Near,
Surgeon,
John Foxx,
The Doobie Brothers,
MDC,
Depeche Mode,
Todd Rundgren,
Sex Pistols,
Youth Brigade,
The Fortunes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Residents,
the Slits,
Dawn Penn,
Jacques Brel,
U.S. Maple,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Move,
Lindisfarne,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.