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 Egypt and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Kaleidoscope to the rock 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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Black Moon,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Dawn Penn,
The Gladiators,
Sun City Girls,
Crash Course in Science,
Buzzcocks,
The Tremeloes,
David Bowie,
Motorama,
Brick,
Kurtis Blow,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Khruangbin,
Masters at Work,
Bad Manners,
Hoover,
Heaven 17,
Altered Images,
Index,
The Black Dice,
Man Parrish,
Matthew Halsall,
Supertramp,
Marshall Jefferson,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Young Marble Giants,
Morten Harket,
Cameo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Clear Light,
Marine Girls,
The Associates,
PIL,
Tropical Tobacco,
One Last Wish,
The Golliwogs,
Kas Product,
Anakelly,
The Moody Blues,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Last Poets,
Gabor Szabo,
Sex Pistols,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Cybotron,
B.T. Express,
Tears for Fears,
Aloha Tigers,
Black Pus,
Skarface,
Television,
The Alarm Clocks,
Reagan Youth,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Dual Sessions,
Main Source,
Deadbeat,
The Flesh Eaters,
Camouflage,
Desert Stars,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.