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 Fiji and from Johannesburg.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Seoul.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Arthur Verocai to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ten City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
LL Cool J,
Bang On A Can,
Curtis Mayfield,
Joensuu 1685,
Massinfluence,
The Gories,
Tropical Tobacco,
Max Romeo,
The Count Five,
a-ha,
Interpol,
Soft Machine,
Rekid,
Cybotron,
Pulsallama,
Gang of Four,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Big Daddy Kane,
Barclay James Harvest,
Icehouse,
Monks,
Sarah Menescal,
Little Man,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Lee Hazlewood,
Crime,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Bar-Kays,
The Standells,
Black Sheep,
Cheater Slicks,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Fela Kuti,
Alice Coltrane,
Masters at Work,
Clear Light,
Ornette Coleman,
Gang Green,
Wire,
Ohio Players,
Slave,
Magma,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rod Modell,
Throbbing Gristle,
Los Fastidios,
Pylon,
David Axelrod,
Shuggie Otis,
The Gladiators,
MDC,
Matthew Halsall,
Visage,
Joy Division,
June Days,
Fat Boys,
New Order,
Spoonie Gee,
Sixth Finger,
Todd Rundgren,
Sister Nancy,
Drexciya,
Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive, Kango’s Stein Massive.
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.