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 Seychelles 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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Seoul.
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 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 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 Soft Cell to the dance 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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Jawbox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wasted Youth 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eli Mardock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Curtis Mayfield,
the Soft Cell,
The Dirtbombs,
Eli Mardock,
Cecil Taylor,
Fela Kuti,
Sparks,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Wake,
Echospace,
The Beau Brummels,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Tremeloes,
Rosa Yemen,
Donald Byrd,
Jerry's Kids,
Charles Mingus,
Sällskapet,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Chris Corsano,
Rhythm & Sound,
Agent Orange,
The Mojo Men,
Sexual Harrassment,
Minor Threat,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Panda Bear,
Eric Dolphy,
Fad Gadget,
Smog,
Au Pairs,
Radio Birdman,
DJ Sneak,
Wings,
Mark Hollis,
Brick,
Wire,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rakim,
Magazine,
Derrick May,
Rites of Spring,
The Happenings,
Ultra Naté,
New Order,
James White and The Blacks,
Hashim,
Reagan Youth,
K-Klass,
The Knickerbockers,
The Grass Roots,
Donny Hathaway,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The United States of America,
Todd Rundgren,
Laurel Aitken,
Roy Ayers,
EPMD,
Radiopuhelimet,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ice-T,
Minny Pops,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.