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 Senegal and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 oboe 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 Lower 48 to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All The Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ossler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
Colin Newman,
Bobby Sherman,
Liliput,
The Fire Engines,
The Wake,
Pussy Galore,
Deadbeat,
Slave,
Camouflage,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sandy B,
Crash Course in Science,
The Selecter,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Iggy Pop,
Letta Mbulu,
Rekid,
Royal Trux,
Blossom Toes,
Quadrant,
Metal Thangz,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Smog,
Scratch Acid,
The Pretty Things,
The Slits,
Joyce Sims,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Soft Cell,
Funky Four + One,
R.M.O.,
Johnny Clarke,
Albert Ayler,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobby Womack,
T. Rex,
ABC,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Barry Ungar,
The Dead C,
The Index,
The Toasters,
Outsiders,
Idris Muhammad,
U.S. Maple,
FM Einheit,
Eddi Front,
Sound Behaviour,
The Gap Band,
Susan Cadogan,
Ultra Naté,
Henry Cow,
Bad Manners,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ten City,
Silicon Teens,
Don Cherry,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.