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 Tuvalu and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 mellotron 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 Brick to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cluster. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rotary Connection,
The Fugs,
Cluster,
Livin' Joy,
Fear,
Interpol,
John Cale,
Pere Ubu,
The Searchers,
Pharoah Sanders,
Marine Girls,
Pantytec,
Average White Band,
Todd Rundgren,
Buzzcocks,
Jandek,
Terrestrial Tones,
Blancmange,
Bobby Sherman,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Sonny Sharrock,
DNA,
Television,
Radiohead,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Excepter,
The Fire Engines,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Camouflage,
Matthew Halsall,
Depeche Mode,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bang On A Can,
Soft Machine,
Jacob Miller,
Glenn Branca,
David Axelrod,
Aswad,
Dual Sessions,
The Residents,
Connie Case,
Hasil Adkins,
the Human League,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
John Holt,
R.M.O.,
Stereo Dub,
Joe Smooth,
Scratch Acid,
Yaz,
Rekid,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
FM Einheit,
Peter and Kerry,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lower 48,
The Slits,
The Gap Band,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.