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 Egypt and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Trojans 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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All The Red Krayola tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eve St. Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Light Orchestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
the Association,
Jacques Brel,
Ronan,
Amon Düül II,
Alice Coltrane,
Supertramp,
The Stooges,
Barry Ungar,
X-102,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Matthew Halsall,
Mark Hollis,
LL Cool J,
Pharoah Sanders,
Funky Four + One,
Skaos,
Eric B and Rakim,
the Slits,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Cal Tjader,
the Bar-Kays,
Alton Ellis,
The Gap Band,
DJ Sneak,
Rites of Spring,
Bad Manners,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Fugs,
Half Japanese,
Chris & Cosey,
Iggy Pop,
Jesper Dahlback,
Reagan Youth,
Television,
June of 44,
Q65,
Quantec,
Boz Scaggs,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bluetip,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lightning Bolt,
Piero Umiliani,
Jeff Lynne,
Los Fastidios,
Thompson Twins,
The Modern Lovers,
Deadbeat,
La Düsseldorf,
The Kinks,
Mad Mike,
Reuben Wilson,
The Walker Brothers,
Heaven 17,
The Grass Roots,
Alison Limerick,
48th St. Collective,
Gang Gang Dance,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.