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 Angola and from Portland.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Edmonton.
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 marimba 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 the Soft Cell to the rap 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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Judy Mowatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Bauhaus,
Excepter,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Knickerbockers,
Bill Near,
Brick,
D'Angelo,
The Fortunes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Tubeway Army,
Guru Guru,
Girls At Our Best!,
Curtis Mayfield,
Pere Ubu,
The Smoke,
Oneida,
Harry Pussy,
Ronan,
Donny Hathaway,
Jeru the Damaja,
Easy Going,
The Toasters,
The Leaves,
The Victims,
The Shadows of Knight,
Shuggie Otis,
X-101,
the Slits,
Man Parrish,
Carl Craig,
Icehouse,
The Human League,
Slave,
Wasted Youth,
Rhythm & Sound,
Technova,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Offenders,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
48th St. Collective,
Yazoo,
David McCallum,
Soft Cell,
Laurel Aitken,
Reuben Wilson,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Walker Brothers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Index,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Mummies,
The Moody Blues,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mad Mike,
T. Rex,
The Trojans,
Arthur Verocai,
Marc Almond,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.