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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Five Americans to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Kinks. All the underground hits.
All Sarah Menescal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Simply Red record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord 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 Cosmic Jokers,
John Holt,
Basic Channel,
Bang On A Can,
Livin' Joy,
Bill Near,
The Standells,
the Soft Cell,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Beau Brummels,
Harry Pussy,
Audionom,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Stereo Dub,
The Moleskins,
Mad Mike,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bluetip,
Blossom Toes,
Aloha Tigers,
Ultimate Spinach,
Susan Cadogan,
Smog,
Rakim,
The Trojans,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Prince Buster,
Sound Behaviour,
Oblivians,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Detroit Cobras,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Country Teasers,
B.T. Express,
the Human League,
Yazoo,
Roxy Music,
Fatback Band,
Talk Talk,
Isaac Hayes,
Scratch Acid,
Model 500,
Monolake,
Deepchord,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Moebius,
Bauhaus,
Soulsonic Force,
Altered Images,
Anthony Braxton,
Soul II Soul,
Sarah Menescal,
The Cure,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Trumans Water,
Brand Nubian,
Harpers Bizarre,
Junior Murvin,
Alice Coltrane,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Underground Resistance,
Blake Baxter,
Jacob Miller,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.