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 India and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Motions to the rap 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 Sly & The Family Stone. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Sneak record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
48th St. Collective,
Sugar Minott,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Jeff Mills,
Radio Birdman,
Tommy Roe,
Scientists,
Rekid,
Altered Images,
Youth Brigade,
Ultimate Spinach,
World's Most,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lalann,
Depeche Mode,
The American Breed,
The Offenders,
Brothers Johnson,
Amon Düül II,
Joyce Sims,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Fugs,
Nas,
One Last Wish,
Moss Icon,
The Detroit Cobras,
Surgeon,
The Last Poets,
Letta Mbulu,
Scion,
Livin' Joy,
Little Man,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Leaves,
Dorothy Ashby,
Boredoms,
L. Decosne,
Peter and Kerry,
EPMD,
FM Einheit,
Tres Demented,
Essential Logic,
The Fortunes,
Technova,
The Shadows of Knight,
Joe Smooth,
The Black Dice,
Spoonie Gee,
Supertramp,
Echospace,
Deadbeat,
Unwound,
Jerry's Kids,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Eric Copeland,
Neu!,
Desert Stars,
Wally Richardson,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.