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 Mozambique and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lyon.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
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 Nation of Ulysses to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Model 500 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gladiators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flash Fearless record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alice Coltrane,
John Foxx,
The Real Kids,
Crooked Eye,
Scan 7,
the Sonics,
Average White Band,
Moby Grape,
Royal Trux,
Shuggie Otis,
Audionom,
Godley & Creme,
Sandy B,
The Gladiators,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pantytec,
Hardrive,
X-102,
Alton Ellis,
Mars,
The Electric Prunes,
the Germs,
Mad Mike,
Judy Mowatt,
Man Eating Sloth,
a-ha,
Quantec,
Crispy Ambulance,
Glenn Branca,
Slick Rick,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gabor Szabo,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Five Americans,
Black Pus,
Lou Reed,
Sister Nancy,
Agitation Free,
Warsaw,
The Music Machine,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Johnny Clarke,
Hashim,
Sonny Sharrock,
Reuben Wilson,
Ornette Coleman,
Funky Four + One,
Pylon,
Warren Ellis,
Grandmaster Flash,
Stiv Bators,
Ultimate Spinach,
Index,
Oblivians,
Flipper,
Bootsy Collins,
the Fania All-Stars,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.