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 Egypt and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Cheater Slicks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Peanut Butter Conspiracy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 clarinet 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 güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
The Martian,
The Index,
Patti Smith,
The Fire Engines,
Marmalade,
The Music Machine,
Ludus,
Pantaleimon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Saccharine Trust,
Pole,
Excepter,
Joy Division,
Bootsy Collins,
Jeff Mills,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lebanon Hanover,
ABC,
Simply Red,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Trojans,
Half Japanese,
Delta 5,
The Doobie Brothers,
June of 44,
Theoretical Girls,
Kurtis Blow,
Laurel Aitken,
Kerri Chandler,
This Heat,
David McCallum,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Young Rascals,
Prince Buster,
The Searchers,
Visage,
Marvin Gaye,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Blackbyrds,
The Doors,
Crispy Ambulance,
Tears for Fears,
The Sonics,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lee Hazlewood,
Maleditus Sound,
Moss Icon,
The Residents,
The Associates,
Lyres,
Brass Construction,
the Human League,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Camouflage,
Harmonia,
The Move,
Quantec,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Pere Ubu,
The Vogues,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.