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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 snare 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 Prince Buster to the funk 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 Dead Boys. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minor Threat 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pole,
Barrington Levy,
Alton Ellis,
The Sonics,
Parry Music,
The Music Machine,
Juan Atkins,
Groovy Waters,
Nas,
The Stooges,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Index,
Lindisfarne,
Idris Muhammad,
Lakeside,
Man Parrish,
Harpers Bizarre,
Slave,
Masters at Work,
Stiv Bators,
Organ,
The Dirtbombs,
Urselle,
Massinfluence,
Youth Brigade,
Pagans,
Television,
Goldenarms,
Rites of Spring,
Outsiders,
Cameo,
Janne Schatter,
Glenn Branca,
Index,
The Martian,
Toni Rubio,
Jerry's Kids,
The Doors,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Smiths,
Sound Behaviour,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Angry Samoans,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Leaves,
The Gap Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Khruangbin,
Cybotron,
Thee Headcoats,
Rapeman,
Fatback Band,
Mad Mike,
Faraquet,
Minor Threat,
Flash Fearless,
Camberwell Now,
Jacob Miller,
Magma,
Aural Exciters,
T. Rex,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.