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 Papua New Guinea and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the theremin 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 Holt to the grime 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 Main Source. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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?
Yusef Lateef,
Ronnie Foster,
Smog,
Johnny Clarke,
Faraquet,
Avey Tare,
Jimmy McGriff,
Radiohead,
Joe Finger,
John Foxx,
Motorama,
Grauzone,
June of 44,
Intrusion,
Black Bananas,
Newcleus,
Marc Almond,
Sun Ra,
Sällskapet,
The Blackbyrds,
ABC,
Robert Hood,
Technova,
Second Layer,
Lucky Dragons,
Saccharine Trust,
Brass Construction,
Minor Threat,
Kerrie Biddell,
Nation of Ulysses,
Scion,
Byron Stingily,
Spoonie Gee,
Gil Scott Heron,
Harmonia,
Nirvana,
Urselle,
Bang On A Can,
DJ Style,
Aaron Thompson,
Electric Prunes,
Jerry's Kids,
Minnie Riperton,
The Techniques,
Das Ding,
Black Flag,
Adolescents,
Blancmange,
The Seeds,
The Golliwogs,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Big Daddy Kane,
Soft Machine,
Michelle Simonal,
Unrelated Segments,
The Fugs,
Bad Manners,
Barclay James Harvest,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.