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 Kuwait and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Shanghai.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Outsiders to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids 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 an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funky Four + One,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lou Reed,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sound Behaviour,
Eddi Front,
Black Moon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Index,
Alton Ellis,
Amon Düül,
EPMD,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobby Hutcherson,
John Lydon,
Henry Cow,
Deakin,
Brick,
Swell Maps,
Jacob Miller,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Michelle Simonal,
Faraquet,
Scion,
Hashim,
Al Stewart,
Moss Icon,
Pierre Henry,
China Crisis,
Dennis Brown,
Wings,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Litter,
Stereo Dub,
Maleditus Sound,
Dual Sessions,
Tommy Roe,
Robert Hood,
the Association,
Erasure,
Iggy Pop,
Lyres,
Bobby Womack,
Loose Ends,
Joe Smooth,
The Seeds,
Young Marble Giants,
Kaleidoscope,
Jeru the Damaja,
Davy DMX,
Mary Jane Girls,
Trumans Water,
Spoonie Gee,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Eve St. Jones,
Jandek,
MDC,
Eric Copeland,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.