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 Syria and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Edmonton.
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 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 Donald Fagen 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 KRS-One to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kurtis Blow 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythim Is Rhythim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Pus,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bauhaus,
Yellowson,
Ice-T,
Rakim,
Khruangbin,
Dorothy Ashby,
Q65,
The Invisible,
Cheater Slicks,
Lakeside,
Oneida,
Unrelated Segments,
Roxette,
Crispy Ambulance,
Monolake,
Nico,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Skriet,
Jawbox,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bootsy Collins,
The Trojans,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Zeros,
The Blues Magoos,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
David Axelrod,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Gories,
Marmalade,
Warren Ellis,
Maurizio,
Funky Four + One,
The Golliwogs,
Charles Mingus,
Max Romeo,
Fugazi,
Vainqueur,
Reuben Wilson,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Icehouse,
The Human League,
Shuggie Otis,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Terry Callier,
The Moleskins,
Barbara Tucker,
Popol Vuh,
Bang On A Can,
Ornette Coleman,
Altered Images,
The Buckinghams,
Amazonics,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Matthew Bourne,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.