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 Cameroon and from Manila.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1978 at the first Visage 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 The Smiths to the jazz 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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heaven 17 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Animal Collective record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Basic Channel,
Jeff Mills,
Angry Samoans,
Ten City,
Ohio Players,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
ABBA,
Echospace,
Soft Machine,
A Certain Ratio,
Warren Ellis,
The Alarm Clocks,
Scratch Acid,
Bluetip,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Barbara Tucker,
Moss Icon,
Lower 48,
Country Teasers,
Y Pants,
Junior Murvin,
Gabor Szabo,
Anthony Braxton,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Agitation Free,
Unrelated Segments,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Rosa Yemen,
Quadrant,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Barracudas,
Animal Collective,
10cc,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Trojans,
The Selecter,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lou Christie,
Erasure,
This Heat,
Fat Boys,
Black Flag,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Crooked Eye,
Godley & Creme,
The Associates,
Ossler,
Davy DMX,
OOIOO,
Sandy B,
The Five Americans,
MDC,
Desert Stars,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
a-ha,
Lalo Schifrin,
Kaleidoscope,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Minutemen,
Schoolly D,
Letta Mbulu,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.