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 Iraq and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum 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 The Jesus and Mary Chain to the rock 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Jawbox,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Slave,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Jeff Lynne,
Connie Case,
John Foxx,
Youth Brigade,
Suburban Knight,
Dawn Penn,
Vladislav Delay,
Lindisfarne,
Skarface,
Pagans,
Robert Wyatt,
Ossler,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Suicide,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Oneida,
Reuben Wilson,
the Soft Cell,
Dark Day,
X-Ray Spex,
Black Sheep,
Pole,
The Doors,
Soulsonic Force,
The Kinks,
Jeru the Damaja,
Alton Ellis,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kevin Saunderson,
Porter Ricks,
June Days,
Prince Buster,
Black Flag,
Sugar Minott,
Inner City,
Archie Shepp,
Swans,
Kayak,
Bob Dylan,
The Angels of Light,
Davy DMX,
Sister Nancy,
Underground Resistance,
The Searchers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Gabor Szabo,
Tom Boy,
Ice-T,
E-Dancer,
Gang Gang Dance,
Massinfluence,
Arab on Radar,
This Heat,
Q and Not U,
Altered Images,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.