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 Laos and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 arpeggiator 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 Yusef Lateef to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cosmic Jokers. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
Eric Dolphy,
Scan 7,
The Buckinghams,
Alton Ellis,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jeff Mills,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Kaleidoscope,
The Stooges,
Blossom Toes,
Bobby Womack,
The New Christs,
The Skatalites,
June Days,
Loose Ends,
The Blackbyrds,
The Barracudas,
The Dave Clark Five,
Main Source,
The Sound,
Bootsy Collins,
Moby Grape,
Urselle,
Dave Gahan,
Rosa Yemen,
Cameo,
John Coltrane,
Michelle Simonal,
Piero Umiliani,
Soft Cell,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fad Gadget,
Ultra Naté,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Quando Quango,
Carl Craig,
Lightning Bolt,
Isaac Hayes,
Ituana,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Divine Comedy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Marmalade,
Index,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Wake,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mars,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Electric Prunes,
June of 44,
Royal Trux,
Rhythm & Sound,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson.
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.