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 Cape Verde and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Milan.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Scratch Acid to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Zapp 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 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 harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy Collins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
The Happenings,
Max Romeo,
Massinfluence,
Rhythm & Sound,
Masters at Work,
Desert Stars,
Silicon Teens,
The Mojo Men,
K-Klass,
Hardrive,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Althea and Donna,
John Foxx,
Junior Murvin,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Dirtbombs,
Urselle,
The Fugs,
F. McDonald,
Grauzone,
Black Bananas,
Groovy Waters,
The Doors,
Gerry Rafferty,
Mantronix,
David Bowie,
LL Cool J,
The Star Department,
Zero Boys,
Dorothy Ashby,
Brothers Johnson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jacob Miller,
The Divine Comedy,
Banda Bassotti,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Sound,
KRS-One,
The Beau Brummels,
Moby Grape,
OOIOO,
Skarface,
AZ,
Gang of Four,
Television Personalities,
Faust,
Rufus Thomas,
Sonny Sharrock,
Al Stewart,
Electric Prunes,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lightning Bolt,
the Association,
Spoonie Gee,
Arcadia,
Supertramp,
Matthew Bourne,
Goldenarms,
Agent Orange,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.