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 Singapore and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 theremin 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud to the grime 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 D'Angelo. All the underground hits.
All Crispy Ambulance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marshall Jefferson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Organ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Model 500,
ABBA,
Grandmaster Flash,
Camouflage,
Rufus Thomas,
Gil Scott Heron,
Anakelly,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pantytec,
Joey Negro,
Hashim,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Roxette,
Eric B and Rakim,
Henry Cow,
Qualms,
The Standells,
Brass Construction,
Grey Daturas,
Kerri Chandler,
Freddie Wadling,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Patti Smith,
Drexciya,
Mandrill,
Ohio Players,
the Slits,
Man Parrish,
The Gap Band,
Subhumans,
Connie Case,
Iggy Pop,
Scratch Acid,
Lower 48,
Yazoo,
Marine Girls,
Aural Exciters,
The Doobie Brothers,
DJ Style,
Maleditus Sound,
the Swans,
Livin' Joy,
Hot Snakes,
Bluetip,
Crispy Ambulance,
Massinfluence,
The Count Five,
Boz Scaggs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Stereo Dub,
Das Ding,
Glenn Branca,
Byron Stingily,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Grass Roots,
Marshall Jefferson,
Robert Görl,
Wally Richardson,
Barrington Levy,
Donny Hathaway,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.