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 Nicaragua and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 ABC to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Alphaville. All the underground hits.
All The Five Americans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terry Callier record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Flock of Seagulls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Henry Cow,
The Barracudas,
Niagra,
Ronan,
AZ,
Kerri Chandler,
Crispy Ambulance,
Robert Görl,
Cameo,
The Standells,
MC5,
The Names,
Donald Byrd,
Tubeway Army,
Stetsasonic,
Glenn Branca,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Stereo Dub,
Television,
John Coltrane,
Eli Mardock,
Gang of Four,
The Sonics,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cheater Slicks,
Eden Ahbez,
Nico,
John Holt,
Clear Light,
Quadrant,
Panda Bear,
Tropical Tobacco,
Slick Rick,
The Seeds,
Smog,
The Misunderstood,
B.T. Express,
Pulsallama,
Juan Atkins,
La Düsseldorf,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Sound,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Real Kids,
The Young Rascals,
MDC,
Bob Dylan,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Barbara Tucker,
Visage,
Eric Copeland,
Rotary Connection,
Groovy Waters,
The New Christs,
The Pop Group,
The Litter,
Dorothy Ashby,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.