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 Lebanon and from Lagos.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 clarinet 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 Eden Ahbez to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All Brick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson 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?
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
the Human League,
The Neon Judgement,
Radiohead,
Matthew Bourne,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Idris Muhammad,
Bluetip,
Loose Ends,
Terry Callier,
Sound Behaviour,
Kurtis Blow,
Joyce Sims,
Yaz,
Chris & Cosey,
Public Enemy,
Barry Ungar,
Los Fastidios,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
the Slits,
Ludus,
Judy Mowatt,
Matthew Halsall,
Whodini,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Crispian St. Peters,
David Axelrod,
Ronan,
Gregory Isaacs,
Monolake,
MDC,
Rakim,
The Human League,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Moebius,
James White and The Blacks,
The Stooges,
The Invisible,
Ultravox,
Max Romeo,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Absolute Body Control,
Fad Gadget,
Mad Mike,
The Vogues,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Alison Limerick,
Boogie Down Productions,
Deepchord,
Scrapy,
Freddie Wadling,
Lower 48,
Nico,
Jandek,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lyres,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
kango's stein massive,
Rufus Thomas,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith.
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.