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 Mozambique and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the guitar 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 China Crisis to the jazz 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Reuben Wilson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Soul II Soul,
In Retrospect,
John Holt,
X-101,
Sex Pistols,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Gories,
Toni Rubio,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Smoke,
Sun Ra,
Steve Hackett,
Los Fastidios,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Five Americans,
Colin Newman,
Lalann,
Mission of Burma,
Ludus,
Bob Dylan,
Cymande,
Dawn Penn,
Echospace,
The Dave Clark Five,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Neil Young,
Derrick May,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The J.B.'s,
Piero Umiliani,
The Human League,
Mars,
Eve St. Jones,
The Skatalites,
Funky Four + One,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Fugs,
the Fania All-Stars,
Josef K,
Swell Maps,
Thompson Twins,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Black Flag,
Harry Pussy,
Lyres,
Sugar Minott,
The Zeros,
Magma,
Joe Smooth,
Mark Hollis,
Charles Mingus,
A Certain Ratio,
Barry Ungar,
Scott Walker,
The Invisible,
The Fortunes,
Section 25,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.