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 Venezuela and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and New York.
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 808 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 Barrington Levy to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxy Music,
Toni Rubio,
Neu!,
Bush Tetras,
James White and The Blacks,
The Vogues,
Motorama,
Parry Music,
Barbara Tucker,
Niagra,
Arcadia,
The New Christs,
Henry Cow,
Barclay James Harvest,
PIL,
Cecil Taylor,
Byron Stingily,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tubeway Army,
Donny Hathaway,
The Index,
Robert Görl,
Hasil Adkins,
Pylon,
Unwound,
Derrick Morgan,
Man Parrish,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Rekid,
Animal Collective,
Qualms,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Intrusion,
Siglo XX,
Sonic Youth,
Fela Kuti,
Kurtis Blow,
Janne Schatter,
Skriet,
Lou Christie,
The Misunderstood,
Tomorrow,
Lower 48,
Peter & Gordon,
Wire,
the Swans,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
KRS-One,
The Happenings,
Marine Girls,
Can,
Chris Corsano,
Fugazi,
Excepter,
X-Ray Spex,
Nils Olav,
Underground Resistance,
Urselle,
Circle Jerks,
The Slits,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.