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 Dominican Republic and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Adolescents,
Don Cherry,
Eric B and Rakim,
10cc,
Fad Gadget,
Fela Kuti,
Parry Music,
The Durutti Column,
The Zeros,
Jandek,
Skaos,
Faust,
Electric Prunes,
ABC,
The Gap Band,
Soulsonic Force,
The Pretty Things,
the Germs,
Judy Mowatt,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ultravox,
F. McDonald,
Man Parrish,
Cal Tjader,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Human League,
Black Flag,
Dorothy Ashby,
Grandmaster Flash,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Walker Brothers,
Mr. Review,
Sound Behaviour,
The Real Kids,
Sex Pistols,
Aswad,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Eli Mardock,
OOIOO,
Scan 7,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Searchers,
The Beau Brummels,
Warsaw,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lou Reed,
Ultra Naté,
Donny Hathaway,
The Fire Engines,
U.S. Maple,
Main Source,
Bad Manners,
Agent Orange,
Mary Jane Girls,
Grauzone,
These Immortal Souls,
Todd Rundgren,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Procol Harum,
The Birthday Party,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.