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 Lucia and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Slave to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin 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 organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
The Blackbyrds,
The Fugs,
Essential Logic,
Anthony Braxton,
Niagra,
Gil Scott Heron,
Radiohead,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Average White Band,
Black Flag,
The Smoke,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Yusef Lateef,
Bronski Beat,
Matthew Halsall,
Grandmaster Flash,
Rufus Thomas,
Yazoo,
The Seeds,
Boredoms,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Standells,
Alice Coltrane,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Fear,
Pere Ubu,
Tomorrow,
Lou Christie,
Pylon,
Thompson Twins,
The United States of America,
Soulsonic Force,
The Techniques,
Ohio Players,
Delta 5,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Modern Lovers,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Gichy Dan,
Cal Tjader,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
John Holt,
Pulsallama,
The Gun Club,
Sunsets and Hearts,
New Order,
Eric Dolphy,
Can,
Scion,
In Retrospect,
Procol Harum,
The Moleskins,
Goldenarms,
Slick Rick,
Toni Rubio,
Camberwell Now,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal.
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.