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 South Sudan and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 Tehran and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 mellotron 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 Vaughan Mason & Crew to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 American Breed. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharoah Sanders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Big Daddy Kane,
Masters at Work,
Piero Umiliani,
Trumans Water,
Nils Olav,
Dawn Penn,
Cal Tjader,
Althea and Donna,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sex Pistols,
Howard Jones,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Brass Construction,
Sexual Harrassment,
DJ Style,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Amon Düül II,
Guru Guru,
Smog,
Rufus Thomas,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Music Machine,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Juan Atkins,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Funky Four + One,
Brothers Johnson,
The Angels of Light,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Theoretical Girls,
The Birthday Party,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pere Ubu,
Bob Dylan,
Pulsallama,
The Toasters,
Model 500,
John Lydon,
Icehouse,
The Electric Prunes,
Susan Cadogan,
Can,
Glenn Branca,
Joey Negro,
The Real Kids,
the Bar-Kays,
Roxy Music,
The Cure,
Joy Division,
Banda Bassotti,
Fad Gadget,
Television,
Radiohead,
John Holt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultra Naté,
The Fuzztones,
Soul II Soul,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.