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 Angola and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Charles Mingus 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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
the Association,
Amon Düül II,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Gladiators,
Jawbox,
Cecil Taylor,
John Lydon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Pretty Things,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Slits,
Black Flag,
The Walker Brothers,
Shoche,
Oblivians,
Jesper Dahlback,
Silicon Teens,
Pantaleimon,
Cameo,
The Birthday Party,
Faraquet,
Grey Daturas,
Bad Manners,
Juan Atkins,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Carl Craig,
Marine Girls,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dorothy Ashby,
Von Mondo,
Lee Hazlewood,
Quadrant,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Human League,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Wire,
Excepter,
The Music Machine,
Ornette Coleman,
Scratch Acid,
Gastr Del Sol,
Banda Bassotti,
Josef K,
Inner City,
Neu!,
Crispian St. Peters,
These Immortal Souls,
Negative Approach,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Roxette,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Hoover,
Dave Gahan,
Peter & Gordon,
Eric Copeland,
Parry Music,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.