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 Jamaica and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Grandmaster Flash to the jazz 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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Al Stewart,
Unrelated Segments,
Gong,
Anthony Braxton,
Flipper,
Essential Logic,
CMW,
Chrome,
Saccharine Trust,
Patti Smith,
The Gladiators,
Sarah Menescal,
Donny Hathaway,
Kool Moe Dee,
B.T. Express,
10cc,
Theoretical Girls,
Gang Starr,
Harmonia,
Gang of Four,
Second Layer,
Dennis Brown,
Blossom Toes,
the Association,
Danielle Patucci,
Deadbeat,
Connie Case,
Mr. Review,
Neil Young,
Graham Central Station,
Nik Kershaw,
Sun City Girls,
the Germs,
The Detroit Cobras,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Swans,
Colin Newman,
Judy Mowatt,
Skarface,
The Smoke,
Pagans,
Unwound,
Sun Ra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Interpol,
Deakin,
Pere Ubu,
Silicon Teens,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Victims,
Neu!,
FM Einheit,
Idris Muhammad,
Public Enemy,
Rosa Yemen,
Ice-T,
Boz Scaggs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Parry Music,
Porter Ricks,
Yusef Lateef,
Ludus,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.