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 Pakistan and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in 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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Sound Behaviour to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Human League. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Desert Stars,
Man Parrish,
Jacob Miller,
Lightning Bolt,
Nas,
Outsiders,
The Electric Prunes,
Lyres,
Heaven 17,
Kas Product,
Eric Dolphy,
Unwound,
Von Mondo,
T. Rex,
Gregory Isaacs,
Urselle,
Marvin Gaye,
The Mojo Men,
Cluster,
The Birthday Party,
The Vogues,
Ken Boothe,
Los Fastidios,
Soul II Soul,
Harry Pussy,
Junior Murvin,
Bootsy Collins,
Minnie Riperton,
Frankie Knuckles,
Unrelated Segments,
Dave Gahan,
Tomorrow,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Standells,
Lower 48,
Silicon Teens,
Bill Wells,
Grey Daturas,
The Golliwogs,
Ludus,
The Moleskins,
Sound Behaviour,
Danielle Patucci,
Visage,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Marine Girls,
Gil Scott Heron,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sixth Finger,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sex Pistols,
Jerry's Kids,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Michelle Simonal,
The Index,
OOIOO,
Kenny Larkin,
The Sonics,
Dennis Brown,
Avey Tare,
The Star Department,
Peter & Gordon,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.