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 Togo and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the 808 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 Idris Muhammad to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Buckinghams. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Slits,
Grandmaster Flash,
H. Thieme,
Eric B and Rakim,
Prince Buster,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Bad Manners,
Rosa Yemen,
Absolute Body Control,
Yaz,
Thee Headcoats,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bang On A Can,
Television Personalities,
Motorama,
Erasure,
The American Breed,
Byron Stingily,
Parry Music,
Rod Modell,
Aaron Thompson,
Max Romeo,
The Cure,
Chrome,
Minnie Riperton,
Bobby Sherman,
Juan Atkins,
R.M.O.,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Tremeloes,
Crooked Eye,
Essential Logic,
David Bowie,
The Fortunes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Maurizio,
Shoche,
Rotary Connection,
Alphaville,
Wasted Youth,
Curtis Mayfield,
8 Eyed Spy,
Quantec,
Howard Jones,
Yusef Lateef,
Mandrill,
The Zeros,
Pole,
Skriet,
Gichy Dan,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ultimate Spinach,
Das Ding,
The United States of America,
Lower 48,
Brand Nubian,
Reuben Wilson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Germs, the Germs, the Germs, the Germs.
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.