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 Africa and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Glasgow.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs 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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Faust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Frankie Knuckles 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cal Tjader record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MDC,
Fat Boys,
David McCallum,
Kerri Chandler,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Move,
Lou Reed,
OOIOO,
T.S.O.L.,
Faraquet,
Dead Boys,
Archie Shepp,
Sun Ra,
R.M.O.,
Hasil Adkins,
Bad Manners,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Young Marble Giants,
the Slits,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Guru Guru,
Tears for Fears,
Sonny Sharrock,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Mary Jane Girls,
Inner City,
The Electric Prunes,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gastr Del Sol,
Juan Atkins,
Procol Harum,
Fugazi,
Negative Approach,
F. McDonald,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Donald Byrd,
Bobby Womack,
Kevin Saunderson,
Newcleus,
Blossom Toes,
Livin' Joy,
Yaz,
The Blackbyrds,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gang of Four,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Gun Club,
Minutemen,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Duran Duran,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Reuben Wilson,
Basic Channel,
The Skatalites,
The Red Krayola,
Schoolly D,
Don Cherry,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.