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 Maldives and from Salvador.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lou Reed to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Cluster. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mo-Dettes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
The Gladiators,
Gang Starr,
The Moleskins,
Godley & Creme,
48th St. Collective,
The Pretty Things,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Peter and Kerry,
The Dirtbombs,
Bluetip,
Main Source,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Brothers Johnson,
Hot Snakes,
World's Most,
The Fall,
Severed Heads,
Grauzone,
Steve Hackett,
Trumans Water,
The Knickerbockers,
Joy Division,
Jeff Mills,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Litter,
Max Romeo,
Mission of Burma,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Red Krayola,
the Normal,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Wire,
Circle Jerks,
The Busters,
Peter & Gordon,
Mantronix,
Bob Dylan,
Boz Scaggs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bauhaus,
Rakim,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Slits,
David McCallum,
Soul II Soul,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Radiohead,
The Selecter,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Cybotron,
New York Dolls,
Jacob Miller,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Outsiders,
Gang Green,
Gichy Dan,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.