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 Nauru and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Echo & the Bunnymen to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ponytail record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a B.T. Express record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Bob Dylan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Angry Samoans,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kayak,
Simply Red,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Suburban Knight,
The Litter,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Girls At Our Best!,
Index,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jeru the Damaja,
June of 44,
Desert Stars,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thompson Twins,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ken Boothe,
Traffic Nightmare,
John Cale,
Robert Wyatt,
Eddi Front,
Bronski Beat,
The Happenings,
Ituana,
The Fortunes,
Eric Dolphy,
The United States of America,
Deadbeat,
Prince Buster,
Marvin Gaye,
Subhumans,
Scratch Acid,
The Invisible,
Nas,
The Beau Brummels,
Von Mondo,
Popol Vuh,
Cybotron,
Sonny Sharrock,
Visage,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Maleditus Sound,
Sugar Minott,
Scrapy,
Rosa Yemen,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Sonics,
Brand Nubian,
The Toasters,
Cal Tjader,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Archie Shepp,
B.T. Express,
Funkadelic,
Alice Coltrane,
Josef K,
Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest.
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.