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 Pakistan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Judy Mowatt to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Derrick Morgan. All the underground hits.
All The Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Monolake,
Excepter,
Colin Newman,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bill Wells,
Pierre Henry,
Essential Logic,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Metal Thangz,
Simply Red,
Soft Machine,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
R.M.O.,
Rakim,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eric Copeland,
Organ,
Bang On A Can,
Nik Kershaw,
The Techniques,
The Offenders,
OOIOO,
Erykah Badu,
Fluxion,
Idris Muhammad,
Sparks,
Jacques Brel,
X-Ray Spex,
Whodini,
Groovy Waters,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Moebius,
Spandau Ballet,
Vainqueur,
This Heat,
New Order,
Lower 48,
Magma,
Kayak,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun City Girls,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Zero Boys,
Cabaret Voltaire,
the Fania All-Stars,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Saccharine Trust,
The Kinks,
Flipper,
Soul Sonic Force,
Derrick May,
Charles Mingus,
The Fugs,
Mark Hollis,
Japan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kurtis Blow,
The Slits,
Joey Negro,
Man Eating Sloth,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.