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 Kenya and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in 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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Swans to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul Sonic Force record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Peanut Butter Conspiracy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Stooges,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
KRS-One,
Brothers Johnson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Slackers,
Bush Tetras,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Busters,
Juan Atkins,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Grandmaster Flash,
Stetsasonic,
Bronski Beat,
The Electric Prunes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rod Modell,
Eric Copeland,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Velvet Underground,
Bill Wells,
Kaleidoscope,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
OOIOO,
Parry Music,
EPMD,
E-Dancer,
The Skatalites,
Ultravox,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Fugs,
La Düsseldorf,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Motions,
Brass Construction,
Sex Pistols,
Gerry Rafferty,
Al Stewart,
Rufus Thomas,
New Order,
Alphaville,
Camberwell Now,
Kurtis Blow,
the Sonics,
Fluxion,
The Evens,
Patti Smith,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Gong,
Minor Threat,
Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd., Public Image Ltd..
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.