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 Libya and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Yaz to the dance 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 Crooked Eye. All the underground hits.
All Model 500 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Womack record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rod Modell,
Jeff Lynne,
Brand Nubian,
Youth Brigade,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Martian,
Godley & Creme,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pere Ubu,
June Days,
The Cure,
Todd Rundgren,
Blossom Toes,
Funky Four + One,
The Fuzztones,
Los Fastidios,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
T.S.O.L.,
The Blues Magoos,
Neu!,
Joe Smooth,
Quadrant,
Ten City,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jeff Mills,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Remains,
DNA,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
K-Klass,
Magazine,
Lalo Schifrin,
Spoonie Gee,
The Divine Comedy,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bill Near,
Cheater Slicks,
X-102,
Altered Images,
David McCallum,
Ultimate Spinach,
Matthew Halsall,
X-Ray Spex,
Heaven 17,
The Monochrome Set,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Hoover,
Das Ding,
Monks,
Deepchord,
Marcia Griffiths,
Glambeats Corp.,
Schoolly D,
Stetsasonic,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Leaves,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Minnie Riperton,
The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics.
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.