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 Uganda and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Skatalites to the dance 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 Rapeman. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 8 Eyed Spy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
Siglo XX,
James White and The Blacks,
Groovy Waters,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Faust,
Young Marble Giants,
Babytalk,
Gil Scott Heron,
Con Funk Shun,
The Shadows of Knight,
Flipper,
The Doobie Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
The Human League,
The Wake,
Half Japanese,
The Residents,
The Gladiators,
Jandek,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Pharoah Sanders,
Howard Jones,
Newcleus,
Sarah Menescal,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Zeros,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
New Age Steppers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Anakelly,
Easy Going,
Brand Nubian,
Freddie Wadling,
Robert Görl,
Ponytail,
Bill Near,
David Axelrod,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lee Hazlewood,
Ohio Players,
Byron Stingily,
Royal Trux,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gregory Isaacs,
the Normal,
Nils Olav,
The Gap Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Echospace,
T.S.O.L.,
Goldenarms,
Scan 7,
Pere Ubu,
Magma,
John Cale,
Kurtis Blow,
Man Eating Sloth,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The J.B.'s,
Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound.
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.