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 Kiribati and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Negative Approach to the grime 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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythm & Sound,
Johnny Clarke,
The Monks,
Surgeon,
Von Mondo,
Man Parrish,
Pere Ubu,
Arcadia,
Ludus,
Tomorrow,
Kaleidoscope,
Lightning Bolt,
Grauzone,
Roy Ayers,
Leonard Cohen,
Nick Fraelich,
Fluxion,
Todd Rundgren,
Intrusion,
The Knickerbockers,
The Invisible,
Masters at Work,
Tim Buckley,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Litter,
The Pop Group,
Dawn Penn,
The Gap Band,
Warsaw,
Franke,
Roxy Music,
Rotary Connection,
Fear,
Magazine,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Alice Coltrane,
Rakim,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Mission of Burma,
The Selecter,
The Stooges,
Lyres,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Oneida,
Alison Limerick,
Niagra,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Aloha Tigers,
Neu!,
Organ,
Black Sheep,
Kurtis Blow,
The Busters,
The Raincoats,
Blossom Toes,
Andrew Hill,
Qualms,
Bizarre Inc.,
Yellowson,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.