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 Saudi Arabia and from Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Robert Görl to the grime 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 Das Ding. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yellowson,
Technova,
CMW,
Inner City,
Laurel Aitken,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
New Age Steppers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Human League,
Lungfish,
Grey Daturas,
Parry Music,
Hashim,
Todd Terry,
Erasure,
Spoonie Gee,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ken Boothe,
The Smiths,
Absolute Body Control,
Procol Harum,
Faraquet,
Can,
Barrington Levy,
The Neon Judgement,
Gang Starr,
The Blues Magoos,
Bill Near,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Connie Case,
The Residents,
The Detroit Cobras,
Warren Ellis,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
These Immortal Souls,
Amon Düül II,
ABC,
Gabor Szabo,
Mars,
Drexciya,
Fela Kuti,
K-Klass,
Simply Red,
Kurtis Blow,
John Cale,
Minny Pops,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gang Gang Dance,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Jeff Lynne,
Accadde A,
The Shadows of Knight,
Au Pairs,
Slave,
Drive Like Jehu,
Soulsonic Force,
Glenn Branca,
The Invisible,
The Gladiators,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.