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 Niger and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft to the punk 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 Albert Ayler. All the underground hits.
All Stetsasonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Alarm Clocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
Monks,
Minutemen,
the Fania All-Stars,
Black Bananas,
Funky Four + One,
Bobby Sherman,
Grauzone,
Sight & Sound,
Bobby Womack,
Kaleidoscope,
Depeche Mode,
The Evens,
Section 25,
Brand Nubian,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pierre Henry,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Traffic Nightmare,
Davy DMX,
The Trojans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Newcleus,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Victims,
Marcia Griffiths,
Rites of Spring,
The Smiths,
Darondo,
Dorothy Ashby,
Symarip,
Desert Stars,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Clear Light,
David Axelrod,
One Last Wish,
Wire,
Livin' Joy,
The Busters,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Reuben Wilson,
Nation of Ulysses,
MC5,
The Fuzztones,
Scion,
Bluetip,
Ronnie Foster,
The Black Dice,
Tears for Fears,
Schoolly D,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pharoah Sanders,
K-Klass,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The United States of America,
EPMD,
Flipper,
Johnny Clarke,
Josef K,
The Doors, The Doors, The Doors, The Doors.
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.