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 South Sudan and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Last Poets to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Country Joe & The Fish. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonic Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Nico,
Harpers Bizarre,
Joe Finger,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Eric Dolphy,
Das Ding,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ponytail,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Flesh Eaters,
Kerrie Biddell,
Parry Music,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Interpol,
James White and The Blacks,
Fatback Band,
Joey Negro,
Cymande,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Section 25,
Q65,
LL Cool J,
The Toasters,
Bobby Byrd,
Barclay James Harvest,
Erasure,
Sixth Finger,
Royal Trux,
ABBA,
Quando Quango,
The Leaves,
Beasts of Bourbon,
In Retrospect,
Robert Görl,
PIL,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rekid,
Sun City Girls,
Public Enemy,
Jeff Mills,
Sonic Youth,
DJ Sneak,
Thee Headcoats,
Joensuu 1685,
Absolute Body Control,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Funkadelic,
Animal Collective,
Mantronix,
Minor Threat,
Make Up,
H. Thieme,
Qualms,
Grandmaster Flash,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.