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 Sri Lanka and from Milan.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and London.
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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the oboe 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 Yusef Lateef to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Newcleus. All the underground hits.
All The Fuzztones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agent Orange record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ponytail record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
A Certain Ratio,
Deakin,
The Durutti Column,
The Slackers,
Visage,
Television,
the Soft Cell,
Bang On A Can,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Marvin Gaye,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Vainqueur,
Matthew Bourne,
Reagan Youth,
Jerry Gold Smith,
B.T. Express,
Arab on Radar,
Howard Jones,
Little Man,
The United States of America,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Neu!,
These Immortal Souls,
Sonic Youth,
the Human League,
Zapp,
the Swans,
Bill Near,
June of 44,
Aaron Thompson,
Fatback Band,
Tomorrow,
Brand Nubian,
Thee Headcoats,
Harmonia,
The Evens,
Das Ding,
Faraquet,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Robert Wyatt,
Ten City,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Offenders,
Siglo XX,
The Cowsills,
Y Pants,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Scion,
Q and Not U,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Jeff Lynne,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Flipper,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front.
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.