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 Afghanistan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Harpers Bizarre to the techno 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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantaleimon,
Deadbeat,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Agent Orange,
Blossom Toes,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Smoke,
Prince Buster,
Adolescents,
The Buckinghams,
Jeru the Damaja,
John Coltrane,
Harpers Bizarre,
Alice Coltrane,
Spandau Ballet,
Zero Boys,
U.S. Maple,
Piero Umiliani,
Peter and Kerry,
Roger Hodgson,
Anakelly,
The Divine Comedy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
a-ha,
Sam Rivers,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bronski Beat,
Shuggie Otis,
Bang On A Can,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Aaron Thompson,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Jimmy McGriff,
Guru Guru,
Flamin' Groovies,
Yazoo,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Suicide,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Radiohead,
Hardrive,
Patti Smith,
Electric Prunes,
the Bar-Kays,
Cymande,
Icehouse,
Wire,
Stetsasonic,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Skarface,
The Index,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Mojo Men,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ice-T,
Jawbox,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sex Pistols,
Flipper,
Davy DMX,
Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock.
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.