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 Azerbaijan and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lagos.
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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 cv313 to the crunk 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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Ituana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
Iggy Pop,
Bang On A Can,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
KRS-One,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Derrick May,
the Slits,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gabor Szabo,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Cluster,
Franke,
Magazine,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
K-Klass,
Television,
The Invisible,
Sparks,
Organ,
The Wake,
The Pretty Things,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Byron Stingily,
New York Dolls,
Rapeman,
Mad Mike,
Guru Guru,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Monochrome Set,
Rites of Spring,
Soul II Soul,
Panda Bear,
Lee Hazlewood,
Alphaville,
Dave Gahan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Minnie Riperton,
The Grass Roots,
The Fortunes,
Dead Boys,
The Walker Brothers,
Bobby Byrd,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Shuggie Otis,
Isaac Hayes,
Vladislav Delay,
Mission of Burma,
Pylon,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Steve Hackett,
Ornette Coleman,
Judy Mowatt,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
James White and The Blacks,
Hoover,
Youth Brigade,
Todd Terry,
Ronan,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Barrington Levy,
Lalann,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club.
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.