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 Bangladesh and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Scrapy to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cluster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Hood,
Saccharine Trust,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Quadrant,
Funkadelic,
Gerry Rafferty,
Moss Icon,
Arab on Radar,
The Leaves,
Lindisfarne,
James White and The Blacks,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lightning Bolt,
Johnny Osbourne,
Khruangbin,
The Real Kids,
Frankie Knuckles,
Isaac Hayes,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Thee Headcoats,
the Bar-Kays,
The Searchers,
The Gun Club,
Michelle Simonal,
Crispian St. Peters,
Stiv Bators,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bizarre Inc.,
Reuben Wilson,
Soft Cell,
Goldenarms,
Kool Moe Dee,
Siglo XX,
Con Funk Shun,
Cal Tjader,
Boredoms,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Pop Group,
The Slits,
The Pretty Things,
Joey Negro,
Hardrive,
Vainqueur,
The Slackers,
Roger Hodgson,
Moby Grape,
Dorothy Ashby,
Second Layer,
Bobby Sherman,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Normal,
Agent Orange,
Motorama,
T.S.O.L.,
New York Dolls,
Pantytec,
John Holt,
Amon Düül,
One Last Wish,
Sound Behaviour,
The Flesh Eaters,
Skarface,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.