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 Pakistan and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Leaves to the grime 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 The Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stiv Bators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
Roger Hodgson,
Thee Headcoats,
Aswad,
Hot Snakes,
Black Bananas,
The Vogues,
Lalo Schifrin,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Crispy Ambulance,
Morten Harket,
Sun Ra,
Kenny Larkin,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
ABBA,
Public Image Ltd.,
Erykah Badu,
The Count Five,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Johnny Osbourne,
Juan Atkins,
Can,
Ponytail,
Jeru the Damaja,
Nico,
The Flesh Eaters,
Accadde A,
T.S.O.L.,
Gichy Dan,
the Slits,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lou Reed,
Donny Hathaway,
Eric B and Rakim,
Popol Vuh,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Wake,
Danielle Patucci,
The Shadows of Knight,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Blues Magoos,
Gerry Rafferty,
AZ,
Fugazi,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kas Product,
Eric Dolphy,
Subhumans,
Skaos,
Robert Hood,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Smog,
Little Man,
Jacques Brel,
Youth Brigade,
Sixth Finger,
The Litter,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.