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 Paraguay and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic 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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 John Foxx to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pagans,
Todd Terry,
F. McDonald,
Graham Central Station,
Neil Young,
Suicide,
Nirvana,
Sister Nancy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Model 500,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Desert Stars,
Kerri Chandler,
The Stooges,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Andrew Hill,
Peter & Gordon,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
New York Dolls,
Dawn Penn,
The Moody Blues,
June of 44,
Nation of Ulysses,
Chrome,
Donny Hathaway,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Flamin' Groovies,
Neu!,
Moebius,
Pylon,
Chris & Cosey,
MDC,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Henry Cow,
Tres Demented,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Youth Brigade,
Bauhaus,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Associates,
Cymande,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Blossom Toes,
Wasted Youth,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Hashim,
Duran Duran,
Fad Gadget,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Throbbing Gristle,
Marcia Griffiths,
Robert Hood,
The Cure,
The Star Department,
Funkadelic,
a-ha,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.