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 Afghanistan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 chamberlin 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 The Golliwogs to the funk 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 Brass Construction. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Royal Trux 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
Nation of Ulysses,
Organ,
The Mummies,
The Dead C,
The Neon Judgement,
Robert Wyatt,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ice-T,
Cameo,
The Fortunes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
AZ,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Golliwogs,
the Soft Cell,
Pharoah Sanders,
Peter & Gordon,
Siglo XX,
DJ Sneak,
the Germs,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Monks,
Alphaville,
The Fire Engines,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bang On A Can,
Rhythm & Sound,
Arthur Verocai,
The Stooges,
Banda Bassotti,
Talk Talk,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Spandau Ballet,
Shuggie Otis,
Eric Dolphy,
These Immortal Souls,
Royal Trux,
The Buckinghams,
Wolf Eyes,
The Birthday Party,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eurythmics,
Cheater Slicks,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Scan 7,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pantaleimon,
Frankie Knuckles,
Matthew Halsall,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lungfish,
Buzzcocks,
Gang Green,
Agitation Free,
Roxette,
The Angels of Light,
Parry Music,
Mary Jane Girls,
Andrew Hill,
Thee Headcoats,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.