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 Liberia and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Subhumans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fear,
Robert Wyatt,
Minnie Riperton,
Thompson Twins,
the Slits,
Wings,
Nirvana,
Albert Ayler,
Mary Jane Girls,
June Days,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Carl Craig,
Thee Headcoats,
The Litter,
The Blues Magoos,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Lower 48,
Angry Samoans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Hardrive,
The Five Americans,
Black Pus,
Average White Band,
Jeff Lynne,
Bobby Byrd,
Ituana,
Supertramp,
Joe Smooth,
Amon Düül,
The Divine Comedy,
The Wake,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Erykah Badu,
Au Pairs,
Henry Cow,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nils Olav,
Motorama,
Harpers Bizarre,
Whodini,
Delta 5,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mark Hollis,
Circle Jerks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Shadows of Knight,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bill Wells,
The Golliwogs,
Swell Maps,
Bobbi Humphrey,
ABC,
Quantec,
Schoolly D,
Isaac Hayes,
The Fuzztones,
The Seeds,
Porter Ricks,
Sugar Minott,
China Crisis,
Skriet, Skriet, Skriet, Skriet.
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.