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 Laos and from Winnipeg.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Woodstock.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Red Krayola to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Ronan. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Easy Going,
Sun City Girls,
Faraquet,
Rufus Thomas,
The American Breed,
Young Marble Giants,
New Order,
The Monks,
T. Rex,
Rites of Spring,
Eric B and Rakim,
Section 25,
The Black Dice,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Thee Headcoats,
Sam Rivers,
10cc,
Vainqueur,
Yellowson,
John Coltrane,
X-102,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Angels of Light,
Dennis Brown,
Morten Harket,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Techniques,
Johnny Osbourne,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Blancmange,
Terry Callier,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jeru the Damaja,
Maleditus Sound,
New Age Steppers,
The Remains,
Agitation Free,
The Slits,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gerry Rafferty,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
OOIOO,
The Monochrome Set,
Cymande,
Heaven 17,
Black Flag,
Dorothy Ashby,
Althea and Donna,
Silicon Teens,
Swans,
Crooked Eye,
Avey Tare,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bobby Womack,
Donald Byrd,
Eric Copeland,
Delta 5,
The Music Machine,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.