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 Ireland and from New York.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Cal Tjader to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Andrew Hill. All the underground hits.
All Popol Vuh tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion 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 sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Rekid,
Stetsasonic,
Matthew Halsall,
Gang of Four,
Mars,
Youth Brigade,
the Association,
Quando Quango,
Television Personalities,
Deepchord,
One Last Wish,
David McCallum,
Massinfluence,
The Mummies,
Tubeway Army,
Unwound,
Kenny Larkin,
Technova,
Jimmy McGriff,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fugs,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lindisfarne,
Flash Fearless,
Sun Ra,
The Golliwogs,
The Leaves,
The Five Americans,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Robert Hood,
Ice-T,
Boredoms,
Piero Umiliani,
Erykah Badu,
The Dirtbombs,
Bill Near,
Man Eating Sloth,
Subhumans,
Angry Samoans,
Bootsy Collins,
Main Source,
Mission of Burma,
Bobbi Humphrey,
K-Klass,
Thompson Twins,
the Swans,
Minny Pops,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Standells,
Alison Limerick,
Faraquet,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Althea and Donna,
Pere Ubu,
Sight & Sound,
Accadde A,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.