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 Malta and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 spring reverb 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 Joe Smooth to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dirtbombs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blancmange,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Associates,
Malaria!,
June Days,
Rhythm & Sound,
Von Mondo,
Make Up,
Flipper,
Piero Umiliani,
Crispian St. Peters,
Motorama,
Alison Limerick,
Essential Logic,
Byron Stingily,
The Blues Magoos,
Leonard Cohen,
Pagans,
Bronski Beat,
A Flock of Seagulls,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bill Wells,
Tim Buckley,
Rufus Thomas,
Lower 48,
Idris Muhammad,
Saccharine Trust,
Soul II Soul,
Underground Resistance,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Brick,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Agent Orange,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ohio Players,
Barry Ungar,
Skriet,
Yellowson,
Pussy Galore,
Gichy Dan,
Whodini,
Joe Smooth,
The Skatalites,
Joe Finger,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Fall,
The Dead C,
Livin' Joy,
Thompson Twins,
T. Rex,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Roxy Music,
Television Personalities,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Techniques,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Leaves,
Amazonics,
Fat Boys,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.