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 New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer 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 Suburban Knight to the grime 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 Sexual Harrassment. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quando Quango record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donny Hathaway,
Robert Hood,
June of 44,
Isaac Hayes,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Agitation Free,
Qualms,
Goldenarms,
Joyce Sims,
Circle Jerks,
The Index,
Absolute Body Control,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sarah Menescal,
Terry Callier,
The American Breed,
The Golliwogs,
Flipper,
Moby Grape,
Jerry's Kids,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
MDC,
A Certain Ratio,
Organ,
Intrusion,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Gun Club,
Letta Mbulu,
Dawn Penn,
Freddie Wadling,
Big Daddy Kane,
Wings,
Desert Stars,
La Düsseldorf,
UT,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Suicide,
Sex Pistols,
Sight & Sound,
Prince Buster,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Liliput,
Connie Case,
Soul Sonic Force,
Arthur Verocai,
Porter Ricks,
JFA,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Jandek,
Lou Christie,
The Last Poets,
Groovy Waters,
U.S. Maple,
Harpers Bizarre,
Girls At Our Best!,
Colin Newman,
Idris Muhammad,
June Days,
DNA,
Wally Richardson,
Crooked Eye,
Chrome,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.