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 the UAE and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 The Wake to the disco 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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flipper record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
The New Christs,
Television,
The Music Machine,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Thee Headcoats,
Can,
The Busters,
Organ,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Oneida,
Unrelated Segments,
Kurtis Blow,
Sonic Youth,
Faust,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Fire Engines,
Isaac Hayes,
The Skatalites,
Pylon,
Flipper,
Magma,
Donald Byrd,
Pierre Henry,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Joy Division,
The Barracudas,
The Selecter,
Soft Machine,
Black Flag,
OOIOO,
Chris & Cosey,
The Raincoats,
Stiv Bators,
Black Sheep,
The Stooges,
Sister Nancy,
Second Layer,
Massinfluence,
Dawn Penn,
Model 500,
Skarface,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Fortunes,
The Slackers,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Gladiators,
Man Parrish,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bill Wells,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sun City Girls,
Saccharine Trust,
Gregory Isaacs,
Fear,
Barrington Levy,
FM Einheit,
Gastr Del Sol,
John Holt,
Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja.
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.