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 Guyana and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Sonny Sharrock to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Subhumans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Joe Smooth,
The Residents,
Visage,
The Techniques,
Todd Rundgren,
Pole,
Brand Nubian,
Pantytec,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nas,
Arthur Verocai,
Lower 48,
Gang of Four,
Danielle Patucci,
Ralphi Rosario,
A Certain Ratio,
Minor Threat,
Khruangbin,
Sparks,
Kerrie Biddell,
Flamin' Groovies,
Aloha Tigers,
The Litter,
The Skatalites,
Derrick Morgan,
Marine Girls,
Soul II Soul,
Rosa Yemen,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Vainqueur,
The Walker Brothers,
Wire,
John Lydon,
Magma,
Frankie Knuckles,
Eve St. Jones,
X-Ray Spex,
The Modern Lovers,
Piero Umiliani,
Schoolly D,
Deakin,
Vladislav Delay,
The Seeds,
La Düsseldorf,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Public Enemy,
The Fall,
Kevin Saunderson,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Swell Maps,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Terry Callier,
Avey Tare,
Aural Exciters,
The Index,
Qualms,
The Music Machine,
Pulsallama,
The Offenders,
Bauhaus,
Kaleidoscope,
Reagan Youth,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.