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 Costa Rica and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Das Ding to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang On A Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül II,
The Happenings,
Hashim,
The Human League,
Jacob Miller,
Al Stewart,
Bronski Beat,
Marine Girls,
Dennis Brown,
Deadbeat,
The Black Dice,
LL Cool J,
Television Personalities,
PIL,
Yazoo,
Kerri Chandler,
Ornette Coleman,
Bang On A Can,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Motorama,
The Fortunes,
Nation of Ulysses,
Glambeats Corp.,
Joensuu 1685,
L. Decosne,
Fela Kuti,
Alison Limerick,
Pere Ubu,
X-101,
Flash Fearless,
Basic Channel,
Eden Ahbez,
Todd Terry,
Unwound,
The Saints,
Mark Hollis,
The Selecter,
DNA,
Absolute Body Control,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gastr Del Sol,
MC5,
The Index,
F. McDonald,
Faust,
The Gun Club,
Sex Pistols,
Glenn Branca,
Bluetip,
The Leaves,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Harpers Bizarre,
Japan,
John Holt,
Joe Finger,
Silicon Teens,
Jeff Mills,
Magma,
Agent Orange,
Big Daddy Kane,
Todd Rundgren,
Gregory Isaacs,
Interpol,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
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.