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 Lebanon and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television 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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Slits to the rap 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 Amazonics. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tears for Fears record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eric B and Rakim,
Roxy Music,
Public Image Ltd.,
Marvin Gaye,
The Happenings,
Idris Muhammad,
The Zeros,
MDC,
The Golliwogs,
The Kinks,
The Shadows of Knight,
One Last Wish,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Monks,
The Modern Lovers,
John Holt,
The Buckinghams,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Main Source,
Sparks,
The Walker Brothers,
Sister Nancy,
The Misunderstood,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rotary Connection,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Arab on Radar,
Minutemen,
Ten City,
Lyres,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Selecter,
Aural Exciters,
The Alarm Clocks,
Joyce Sims,
Boogie Down Productions,
Hashim,
Con Funk Shun,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Aloha Tigers,
Delta 5,
Oblivians,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Dirtbombs,
R.M.O.,
John Coltrane,
Quadrant,
Fear,
X-101,
The New Christs,
Janne Schatter,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Prince Buster,
Clear Light,
Amazonics,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eve St. Jones,
Icehouse,
Sandy B,
Dual Sessions,
Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay.
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.