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 Tajikistan and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Matthew Halsall to the punk 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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Mo-Dettes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Kas Product,
Archie Shepp,
Aloha Tigers,
The Saints,
the Swans,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jandek,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eve St. Jones,
The Alarm Clocks,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lindisfarne,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Marvin Gaye,
Fad Gadget,
Average White Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
Tropical Tobacco,
Black Moon,
China Crisis,
Sister Nancy,
Deadbeat,
Tres Demented,
Khruangbin,
Boogie Down Productions,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Litter,
Bauhaus,
The Offenders,
Skarface,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Ralphi Rosario,
Harry Pussy,
The Fire Engines,
Negative Approach,
Dorothy Ashby,
Depeche Mode,
The Slits,
Crime,
Davy DMX,
Cluster,
Blancmange,
The Wake,
Bootsy Collins,
Adolescents,
Patti Smith,
Rufus Thomas,
Girls At Our Best!,
Warsaw,
Ultimate Spinach,
This Heat,
Aaron Thompson,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
New Age Steppers,
Main Source,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Boz Scaggs,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.