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 Honduras and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 chamberlin 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 Joe Smooth to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
The Seeds,
Minny Pops,
Mark Hollis,
Matthew Bourne,
Quadrant,
Yaz,
The Cure,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Buzzcocks,
Jandek,
Brick,
Minutemen,
Grauzone,
Boredoms,
Bill Near,
The Fugs,
Alice Coltrane,
Jimmy McGriff,
Wire,
These Immortal Souls,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Subhumans,
Derrick Morgan,
Kerri Chandler,
Nick Fraelich,
The Blackbyrds,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gastr Del Sol,
Rod Modell,
Soft Machine,
Tomorrow,
Audionom,
Soul II Soul,
Yusef Lateef,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sun Ra,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Das Ding,
David Axelrod,
David McCallum,
Lou Reed,
Icehouse,
Excepter,
Mandrill,
Ken Boothe,
Pylon,
Bush Tetras,
Camberwell Now,
Lower 48,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Agent Orange,
Dorothy Ashby,
Warren Ellis,
Hot Snakes,
Pagans,
Arcadia,
Laurel Aitken,
New Age Steppers,
Michelle Simonal,
Sixth Finger,
Hasil Adkins,
Boogie Down Productions,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.