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 Comoros and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Copenhagen.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Alarm Clocks to the disco 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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Parry Music tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlback 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gong,
Marmalade,
Henry Cow,
Boredoms,
The Litter,
The Music Machine,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Babytalk,
The Searchers,
Minny Pops,
The Raincoats,
Blossom Toes,
Sun City Girls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Whodini,
The Leaves,
L. Decosne,
Jawbox,
Isaac Hayes,
Sight & Sound,
Au Pairs,
John Coltrane,
Fad Gadget,
Depeche Mode,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Evens,
New Order,
Slick Rick,
Soft Machine,
Cabaret Voltaire,
David Bowie,
The Divine Comedy,
Magma,
Donald Byrd,
Ken Boothe,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lower 48,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Cosmic Jokers,
David McCallum,
Neil Young,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rotary Connection,
Arab on Radar,
Matthew Bourne,
Index,
Joyce Sims,
Sandy B,
Reuben Wilson,
Infiniti,
Derrick May,
Max Romeo,
Pole,
Nick Fraelich,
Todd Rundgren,
Funkadelic,
The Fall,
Donny Hathaway,
Loose Ends,
Los Fastidios,
DNA, DNA, DNA, DNA.
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.