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 Poland and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Masters at Work to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Rundgren record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
Mantronix,
Sarah Menescal,
Matthew Bourne,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Livin' Joy,
Outsiders,
Bronski Beat,
Marmalade,
Newcleus,
Pulsallama,
Scott Walker,
World's Most,
Sam Rivers,
Steve Hackett,
Tim Buckley,
Terry Callier,
Al Stewart,
Soft Machine,
Deepchord,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Scientists,
Vladislav Delay,
The Pretty Things,
Bobby Sherman,
Scratch Acid,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Kinks,
a-ha,
the Germs,
Duran Duran,
48th St. Collective,
Groovy Waters,
Glenn Branca,
Terrestrial Tones,
The J.B.'s,
These Immortal Souls,
Kenny Larkin,
New York Dolls,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Warsaw,
Kurtis Blow,
Average White Band,
Animal Collective,
The Divine Comedy,
Faust,
The Fuzztones,
Nirvana,
Accadde A,
Yusef Lateef,
Angry Samoans,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sparks,
Henry Cow,
Pussy Galore,
Rotary Connection,
Brick,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.