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 Sri Lanka and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Seoul.
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 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 Robert Palmer 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the grime 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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All Blossom Toes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zapp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Young Marble Giants,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gastr Del Sol,
Grey Daturas,
Don Cherry,
Y Pants,
Oblivians,
Freddie Wadling,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Audionom,
Gregory Isaacs,
Slick Rick,
Tim Buckley,
Danielle Patucci,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Mad Mike,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sonic Youth,
Cal Tjader,
Faust,
Roger Hodgson,
Deadbeat,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
John Lydon,
Robert Görl,
Girls At Our Best!,
Althea and Donna,
Dave Gahan,
New York Dolls,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Sight & Sound,
Scan 7,
The Trojans,
The Sonics,
Robert Wyatt,
Deepchord,
Fugazi,
Von Mondo,
These Immortal Souls,
Gil Scott Heron,
Al Stewart,
Mars,
Radiohead,
Talk Talk,
Reuben Wilson,
The Tremeloes,
Mark Hollis,
Minnie Riperton,
Joensuu 1685,
Mr. Review,
KRS-One,
Sonny Sharrock,
Agitation Free,
Q65,
Jesper Dahlback,
Chrome,
Rakim,
The Durutti Column,
Television Personalities,
In Retrospect,
Make Up,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.