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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 Bremen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Fela Kuti to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All ABC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eve St. Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pagans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Make Up,
Maurizio,
a-ha,
The Fall,
Liliput,
cv313,
Guru Guru,
Althea and Donna,
Dorothy Ashby,
Nico,
The Last Poets,
EPMD,
Pere Ubu,
Bluetip,
In Retrospect,
Tom Boy,
Rod Modell,
Letta Mbulu,
Yellowson,
Piero Umiliani,
Lyres,
Al Stewart,
Average White Band,
Radio Birdman,
Don Cherry,
Flash Fearless,
Robert Wyatt,
Fatback Band,
Brass Construction,
Stetsasonic,
Stiv Bators,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Jacob Miller,
This Heat,
the Bar-Kays,
Isaac Hayes,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Evens,
The American Breed,
James White and The Blacks,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Man Parrish,
Ituana,
The Knickerbockers,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Au Pairs,
Stereo Dub,
Royal Trux,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gang Green,
The Cure,
Reagan Youth,
A Certain Ratio,
Barrington Levy,
Black Flag,
Albert Ayler,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.