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 Mozambique and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 mellotron 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 Half Japanese to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Motions. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Kenny Larkin,
Dual Sessions,
Pharoah Sanders,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ponytail,
K-Klass,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Talk Talk,
Kurtis Blow,
New Age Steppers,
The Martian,
Frankie Knuckles,
Stereo Dub,
the Soft Cell,
The Doors,
Flipper,
B.T. Express,
Charles Mingus,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
48th St. Collective,
Ludus,
Hoover,
Joy Division,
Brothers Johnson,
Jacob Miller,
Ronan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sparks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Josef K,
Johnny Osbourne,
Camouflage,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Beau Brummels,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Johnny Clarke,
the Association,
Anthony Braxton,
Tomorrow,
The New Christs,
Donald Byrd,
Saccharine Trust,
Stetsasonic,
Barclay James Harvest,
Joensuu 1685,
Audionom,
Gong,
The Slits,
The Happenings,
OOIOO,
Arthur Verocai,
Crime,
Erasure,
Icehouse,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Throbbing Gristle,
Boredoms,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.