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 Mongolia and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 UT to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cal Tjader record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tim Buckley,
James White and The Blacks,
Ludus,
Ultra Naté,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Joey Negro,
These Immortal Souls,
Ultimate Spinach,
Alton Ellis,
Chris Corsano,
Khruangbin,
Prince Buster,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dark Day,
H. Thieme,
The Kinks,
Brand Nubian,
Second Layer,
Terry Callier,
Funky Four + One,
Young Marble Giants,
Todd Rundgren,
The Dirtbombs,
The Misunderstood,
Faraquet,
Lungfish,
The Human League,
The Divine Comedy,
Ralphi Rosario,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cecil Taylor,
Organ,
Delta 5,
The Standells,
New Order,
The Golliwogs,
Freddie Wadling,
Gong,
Pussy Galore,
The American Breed,
Nirvana,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Velvet Underground,
the Soft Cell,
The Techniques,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ultravox,
U.S. Maple,
Erasure,
Aloha Tigers,
Josef K,
Neu!,
Jesper Dahlback,
MC5,
48th St. Collective,
Clear Light,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rekid,
Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case.
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.