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 Lesotho and from Paris.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Symarip to the rock 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 Sound Behaviour. All the underground hits.
All Franke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
Sarah Menescal,
James White and The Blacks,
Byron Stingily,
Yazoo,
David Bowie,
Symarip,
Rufus Thomas,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pierre Henry,
Bill Near,
Black Moon,
Jandek,
Swans,
Ken Boothe,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Peter and Kerry,
Fatback Band,
Lalann,
Roger Hodgson,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
One Last Wish,
Nation of Ulysses,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Dead Boys,
Procol Harum,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Velvet Underground,
The Modern Lovers,
Terrestrial Tones,
Banda Bassotti,
Stiv Bators,
Freddie Wadling,
Jeff Mills,
Andrew Hill,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Judy Mowatt,
Wings,
Bronski Beat,
Avey Tare,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Electric Prunes,
Stetsasonic,
Public Image Ltd.,
Amazonics,
The United States of America,
Marcia Griffiths,
Crispian St. Peters,
Derrick May,
Ralphi Rosario,
Q65,
The Grass Roots,
Blossom Toes,
Don Cherry,
Sällskapet,
Soulsonic Force,
The Standells,
Ohio Players,
The Moody Blues,
Delon & Dalcan,
Terry Callier,
Ponytail,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.