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 Dominica and from Lagos.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Donald Fagen 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 Kurtis Blow to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All In Retrospect tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q and Not U,
Man Eating Sloth,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Loose Ends,
The Last Poets,
Pierre Henry,
The Alarm Clocks,
Neu!,
Isaac Hayes,
Stereo Dub,
Infiniti,
Janne Schatter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Offenders,
The Raincoats,
Young Marble Giants,
Cecil Taylor,
Maurizio,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Shuggie Otis,
Livin' Joy,
Darondo,
David Axelrod,
Slick Rick,
Siglo XX,
Kevin Saunderson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ossler,
Drive Like Jehu,
Michelle Simonal,
These Immortal Souls,
Kayak,
Sun City Girls,
Neil Young,
Amazonics,
Bad Manners,
Minny Pops,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Unrelated Segments,
Bobby Sherman,
Wire,
Fugazi,
Harmonia,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Parry Music,
Ronan,
The Gap Band,
Marmalade,
Avey Tare,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Techniques,
Eddi Front,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Gun Club,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cluster,
Reagan Youth,
Mission of Burma,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bootsy Collins,
Negative Approach,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.