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 Somalia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Maleditus Sound 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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mandrill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mantronix,
Crispy Ambulance,
Man Eating Sloth,
Freddie Wadling,
Accadde A,
Carl Craig,
Quando Quango,
D'Angelo,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marvin Gaye,
John Foxx,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Curtis Mayfield,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lungfish,
Rekid,
T. Rex,
Pantytec,
The Wake,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Detroit Cobras,
Junior Murvin,
Echospace,
Radiopuhelimet,
ABBA,
Radio Birdman,
Quadrant,
Ken Boothe,
Rotary Connection,
Oneida,
Eddi Front,
The Knickerbockers,
Essential Logic,
The Divine Comedy,
the Association,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gerry Rafferty,
Chris & Cosey,
John Coltrane,
Max Romeo,
the Human League,
Smog,
Danielle Patucci,
A Certain Ratio,
Whodini,
Archie Shepp,
Terrestrial Tones,
Anthony Braxton,
Sex Pistols,
Godley & Creme,
Ornette Coleman,
Brick,
Slave,
Half Japanese,
Eric Dolphy,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Dual Sessions,
Chris Corsano,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.