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 Cyprus and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Delhi.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Last Poets to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All MDC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 8 Eyed Spy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Saccharine Trust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T.S.O.L.,
Drexciya,
Sister Nancy,
Infiniti,
David McCallum,
The Human League,
Cecil Taylor,
AZ,
U.S. Maple,
The Knickerbockers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Harmonia,
Public Image Ltd.,
Adolescents,
K-Klass,
Scott Walker,
Symarip,
Faraquet,
Man Parrish,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Minor Threat,
Wasted Youth,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Alarm Clocks,
Avey Tare,
The Move,
Minny Pops,
Index,
the Association,
Pylon,
48th St. Collective,
Yazoo,
Radio Birdman,
Royal Trux,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Funky Four + One,
Can,
The Mojo Men,
Hasil Adkins,
Frankie Knuckles,
Pole,
Alison Limerick,
Shoche,
Sarah Menescal,
Joey Negro,
Gabor Szabo,
Piero Umiliani,
Bronski Beat,
Lou Christie,
the Sonics,
Nils Olav,
Tubeway Army,
Pagans,
Tres Demented,
Quantec,
Soulsonic Force,
Franke,
Johnny Osbourne,
a-ha,
Stockholm Monsters,
D'Angelo,
Matthew Bourne,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.