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 Belgium and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Brand Nubian to the jazz 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 The Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Lakeside tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Schoolly D record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Susan Cadogan,
The Vogues,
Ituana,
Smog,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Drexciya,
Black Flag,
Erykah Badu,
Talk Talk,
New York Dolls,
the Fania All-Stars,
Masters at Work,
Joe Finger,
Soulsonic Force,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Malaria!,
The Evens,
Cal Tjader,
Fluxion,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Techniques,
Arthur Verocai,
Niagra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Wally Richardson,
Electric Prunes,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Depeche Mode,
Prince Buster,
Pierre Henry,
Alton Ellis,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Main Source,
DNA,
10cc,
The Associates,
Nirvana,
Glenn Branca,
X-Ray Spex,
Ohio Players,
Laurel Aitken,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bluetip,
DJ Style,
Jesper Dahlback,
This Heat,
Ponytail,
Skarface,
Absolute Body Control,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Blossom Toes,
Dave Gahan,
Sun City Girls,
Y Pants,
Lungfish,
Qualms,
Underground Resistance,
Minutemen,
Youth Brigade,
F. McDonald,
The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras.
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.