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 Macedonia and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Gregory Isaacs to the grunge 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultimate Spinach 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dead Boys,
DJ Sneak,
Yusef Lateef,
Supertramp,
Dennis Brown,
Patti Smith,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Slave,
Bobby Sherman,
Idris Muhammad,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Monks,
Alton Ellis,
Spandau Ballet,
The Cure,
Marshall Jefferson,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Gun Club,
Skriet,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ash Ra Tempel,
DNA,
MC5,
The Residents,
Newcleus,
Thompson Twins,
Gang Green,
The Last Poets,
Motorama,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Derrick May,
H. Thieme,
The Smiths,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Donny Hathaway,
The Fortunes,
Yaz,
UT,
Minny Pops,
Excepter,
Marc Almond,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Invisible,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Aloha Tigers,
Jeru the Damaja,
Arthur Verocai,
Pussy Galore,
Barrington Levy,
ABBA,
Kerri Chandler,
Soft Machine,
Sonny Sharrock,
CMW,
Hasil Adkins,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Curtis Mayfield,
Crooked Eye,
Sister Nancy,
The Victims,
Scott Walker,
PIL,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.