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 Lebanon and from London.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Holger Czukay 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 Moss Icon to the grunge 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 The Vogues. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pylon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
LL Cool J,
the Germs,
Shuggie Otis,
Lower 48,
David Axelrod,
Nik Kershaw,
Electric Prunes,
Isaac Hayes,
Accadde A,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sister Nancy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lindisfarne,
The Cure,
The Fuzztones,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Niagra,
Das Ding,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Moody Blues,
Model 500,
Roy Ayers,
Mark Hollis,
Ohio Players,
Roxy Music,
Blancmange,
Deepchord,
Andrew Hill,
The Golliwogs,
Jandek,
Dual Sessions,
Al Stewart,
Josef K,
Lungfish,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gang Starr,
Joey Negro,
Sound Behaviour,
R.M.O.,
Public Image Ltd.,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Whodini,
The Searchers,
Anthony Braxton,
Au Pairs,
Crooked Eye,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Intrusion,
Youth Brigade,
Sällskapet,
Scan 7,
The Walker Brothers,
Alton Ellis,
Scratch Acid,
Joe Smooth,
Pole,
Sonny Sharrock,
Patti Smith,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.