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 St Lucia and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ 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 Absolute Body Control to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Dual Sessions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gabor Szabo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Amazonics,
Nils Olav,
Simply Red,
Mandrill,
Vladislav Delay,
Lyres,
Minnie Riperton,
Sonic Youth,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Harmonia,
In Retrospect,
Spoonie Gee,
Todd Terry,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Panda Bear,
Sarah Menescal,
The Gap Band,
Delta 5,
Qualms,
Warsaw,
Kenny Larkin,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Toasters,
Agent Orange,
Gregory Isaacs,
Crispian St. Peters,
Minutemen,
the Association,
Eric B and Rakim,
Lightning Bolt,
Slave,
Accadde A,
Johnny Osbourne,
June of 44,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lebanon Hanover,
Pylon,
Sandy B,
PIL,
Bizarre Inc.,
LL Cool J,
a-ha,
Brass Construction,
Donald Byrd,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Fuzztones,
The Offenders,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Cowsills,
Howard Jones,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Fear,
E-Dancer,
Bill Near,
The Slackers,
Maleditus Sound,
Heaven 17,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.