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 Rwanda and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the grime 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 Sexual Harrassment. All the underground hits.
All Kenny Larkin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Bar-Kays record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Skaos,
Skriet,
Wally Richardson,
Das Ding,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Hasil Adkins,
Sex Pistols,
Shuggie Otis,
Marvin Gaye,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
In Retrospect,
Banda Bassotti,
10cc,
the Sonics,
Depeche Mode,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Archie Shepp,
Saccharine Trust,
Chris & Cosey,
The Modern Lovers,
Dennis Brown,
Matthew Halsall,
L. Decosne,
Idris Muhammad,
Khruangbin,
Sam Rivers,
John Cale,
Peter and Kerry,
Cameo,
Gang Gang Dance,
Public Enemy,
Con Funk Shun,
EPMD,
The Mojo Men,
Donald Byrd,
Tres Demented,
Stockholm Monsters,
Young Marble Giants,
Flipper,
Pantytec,
Letta Mbulu,
Cluster,
Country Teasers,
Cecil Taylor,
Soft Cell,
Television Personalities,
The Gladiators,
Pere Ubu,
Kas Product,
The Buckinghams,
MC5,
Neu!,
Grandmaster Flash,
Wolf Eyes,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
the Slits,
Soul II Soul,
Joe Smooth,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Shadows of Knight,
Oneida,
Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep.
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.