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 Afghanistan and from Mexico City.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 sitar 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 June Days to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Star Department record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Cecil Taylor,
Pierre Henry,
Bill Near,
Lungfish,
Pharoah Sanders,
Moebius,
Skaos,
Pylon,
Fad Gadget,
ABBA,
Carl Craig,
Hasil Adkins,
Guru Guru,
Jacob Miller,
Con Funk Shun,
Arcadia,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Dirtbombs,
Althea and Donna,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Avey Tare,
Main Source,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Echospace,
The Happenings,
Pere Ubu,
Funkadelic,
Excepter,
Marcia Griffiths,
Jesper Dahlback,
Pole,
Black Flag,
Soulsonic Force,
The Victims,
The Real Kids,
Archie Shepp,
T. Rex,
Michelle Simonal,
Iggy Pop,
Subhumans,
Chrome,
The Martian,
Andrew Hill,
the Human League,
Banda Bassotti,
Fatback Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Soft Cell,
Motorama,
The Durutti Column,
Ohio Players,
Alison Limerick,
Ken Boothe,
Bootsy Collins,
Sugar Minott,
Roxette,
Lakeside,
Ten City,
The Moleskins,
Ronan,
Suburban Knight,
The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams.
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.