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 Kyrgyzstan and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Grandmaster Flash 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 Depeche Mode. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Warsaw,
Inner City,
48th St. Collective,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Gun Club,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Zeros,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sister Nancy,
Josef K,
The Smoke,
Supertramp,
Lungfish,
Junior Murvin,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
the Swans,
Alphaville,
Matthew Bourne,
Eurythmics,
Theoretical Girls,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sun Ra,
Icehouse,
James White and The Blacks,
Trumans Water,
Banda Bassotti,
Matthew Halsall,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fugazi,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Malaria!,
Ituana,
Bang On A Can,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Guru Guru,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Young Marble Giants,
Absolute Body Control,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Names,
Jacob Miller,
ABC,
The Modern Lovers,
Brothers Johnson,
Model 500,
Soul II Soul,
T.S.O.L.,
The Evens,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sonic Youth,
Organ,
Yusef Lateef,
Shoche,
Spoonie Gee,
Eve St. Jones,
The Divine Comedy,
Underground Resistance,
The Blackbyrds,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Morten Harket,
Robert Wyatt,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.