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 Lithuania and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 UT to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Smooth,
Rapeman,
Vainqueur,
Quando Quango,
Aswad,
Juan Atkins,
Vladislav Delay,
D'Angelo,
Bauhaus,
Brand Nubian,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Carl Craig,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Fela Kuti,
Albert Ayler,
Easy Going,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Alarm Clocks,
Alison Limerick,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Flash Fearless,
Fat Boys,
Soul II Soul,
Soulsonic Force,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Andrew Hill,
Talk Talk,
John Holt,
Kayak,
Faraquet,
Wings,
The Monks,
Simply Red,
Pere Ubu,
Section 25,
The Vogues,
Monks,
Arcadia,
Masters at Work,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scan 7,
Junior Murvin,
Bobby Byrd,
Electric Prunes,
X-101,
DNA,
FM Einheit,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sugar Minott,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Judy Mowatt,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Lalann,
Negative Approach,
Desert Stars,
The Fugs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Dark Day,
The Zeros,
Aaron Thompson, Aaron Thompson, Aaron Thompson, Aaron Thompson.
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.