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 Brunei and from Mexico City.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 marimba 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All 8 Eyed Spy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Traffic Nightmare,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Aloha Tigers,
The Pop Group,
World's Most,
Cabaret Voltaire,
New Age Steppers,
Warsaw,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Stooges,
Man Parrish,
June of 44,
Procol Harum,
Moebius,
Von Mondo,
Crooked Eye,
Pagans,
Archie Shepp,
Faust,
B.T. Express,
David Bowie,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Angels of Light,
Chrome,
Soulsonic Force,
Sight & Sound,
Lightning Bolt,
Michelle Simonal,
Laurel Aitken,
the Bar-Kays,
The Raincoats,
L. Decosne,
Liliput,
Groovy Waters,
The Flesh Eaters,
Eve St. Jones,
China Crisis,
Eli Mardock,
Jacques Brel,
New Order,
Gang Starr,
Fugazi,
The Invisible,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lalo Schifrin,
Avey Tare,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Yaz,
The Vogues,
Erasure,
Nas,
Pere Ubu,
Black Pus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Soul II Soul,
The Misunderstood,
Jeff Lynne,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.