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 Kazakhstan and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 John Lydon to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 This Heat. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Average White Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
The Fuzztones,
Livin' Joy,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Don Cherry,
Kas Product,
Dennis Brown,
Alice Coltrane,
The Selecter,
Ituana,
Sarah Menescal,
Faust,
Cybotron,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Grass Roots,
Boz Scaggs,
Scott Walker,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pulsallama,
New Order,
Second Layer,
Grauzone,
Khruangbin,
Funky Four + One,
Franke,
Crispy Ambulance,
Donny Hathaway,
Dorothy Ashby,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Human League,
Scientists,
Popol Vuh,
Eden Ahbez,
Roxette,
R.M.O.,
The Last Poets,
Delta 5,
Gang Gang Dance,
Amon Düül,
Schoolly D,
Drexciya,
KRS-One,
Scrapy,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Dark Day,
E-Dancer,
Minor Threat,
Byron Stingily,
Fifty Foot Hose,
8 Eyed Spy,
Quantec,
Monolake,
Barrington Levy,
Index,
The Doobie Brothers,
Au Pairs,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Visage,
Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape.
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.