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 Tajikistan and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the sitar 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 Ronan 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 Juan Atkins. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yaz 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Names,
Average White Band,
Skaos,
CMW,
The Selecter,
The Happenings,
Joey Negro,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Ornette Coleman,
The Blackbyrds,
The Count Five,
Laurel Aitken,
Au Pairs,
Crooked Eye,
Pulsallama,
Donald Byrd,
Smog,
Livin' Joy,
The Offenders,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Rotary Connection,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pantaleimon,
The Walker Brothers,
Eric B and Rakim,
H. Thieme,
Flipper,
The Wake,
The Kinks,
Fela Kuti,
Godley & Creme,
Ludus,
Eric Dolphy,
Adolescents,
E-Dancer,
Wings,
Marmalade,
Clear Light,
Angry Samoans,
Judy Mowatt,
Sällskapet,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Easy Going,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mr. Review,
Agent Orange,
Joensuu 1685,
Blossom Toes,
Matthew Halsall,
Scrapy,
The Velvet Underground,
Soul II Soul,
Bush Tetras,
Jeff Lynne,
Barbara Tucker,
Marshall Jefferson,
Eden Ahbez,
MDC,
Trumans Water,
Sun Ra,
Nirvana,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.