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 Libya and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Barracudas to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television Personalities record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Five Americans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Spoonie Gee,
Junior Murvin,
The Beau Brummels,
Angry Samoans,
Gregory Isaacs,
Brothers Johnson,
Pere Ubu,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Mandrill,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bob Dylan,
Eric Dolphy,
Hashim,
Tres Demented,
Pierre Henry,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nik Kershaw,
Adolescents,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Modern Lovers,
Quantec,
The Barracudas,
48th St. Collective,
Brand Nubian,
Blake Baxter,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Techniques,
Can,
The Motions,
The Smoke,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Barry Ungar,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Reagan Youth,
the Association,
L. Decosne,
The Divine Comedy,
Icehouse,
The Searchers,
The Count Five,
Public Image Ltd.,
Easy Going,
La Düsseldorf,
Tears for Fears,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ultimate Spinach,
Talk Talk,
David McCallum,
Pulsallama,
The Gun Club,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Martian,
Alton Ellis,
Rod Modell,
Outsiders,
Moebius,
Brick,
the Slits,
Joyce Sims,
The Velvet Underground,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.