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 Vanuatu and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 John Lydon to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All Rekid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Christie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a OOIOO record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Absolute Body Control,
ABC,
Niagra,
The Busters,
Smog,
Gang of Four,
Pierre Henry,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ice-T,
Brand Nubian,
Peter & Gordon,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Modern Lovers,
Altered Images,
Scan 7,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Colin Newman,
Soulsonic Force,
Moby Grape,
Tears for Fears,
Wings,
Marmalade,
X-102,
Mad Mike,
Chris & Cosey,
The Star Department,
Stiv Bators,
X-Ray Spex,
The Pretty Things,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Techniques,
Sun Ra,
Con Funk Shun,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Bobby Byrd,
The Velvet Underground,
Barrington Levy,
Sound Behaviour,
the Swans,
Hashim,
Ronnie Foster,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Organ,
Skaos,
Neil Young,
Darondo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Alphaville,
The Red Krayola,
Moss Icon,
CMW,
Sarah Menescal,
The Misunderstood,
Slave,
Delta 5,
The Residents,
Can,
The New Christs,
Kayak,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.