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 Sri Lanka and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 güiro 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 The Fire Engines to the grime 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All H. Thieme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The New Christs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Monolake,
The Moleskins,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Robert Wyatt,
CMW,
The Kinks,
New Age Steppers,
The Monks,
Altered Images,
Accadde A,
MC5,
The Dead C,
Zero Boys,
Minnie Riperton,
Nils Olav,
Model 500,
Easy Going,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Excepter,
Icehouse,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Move,
The Raincoats,
Ossler,
Soulsonic Force,
Morten Harket,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Five Americans,
Eric B and Rakim,
Pere Ubu,
Reagan Youth,
Porter Ricks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Glenn Branca,
The Moody Blues,
Ohio Players,
La Düsseldorf,
The Flesh Eaters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Selecter,
John Coltrane,
The Knickerbockers,
Tom Boy,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lou Reed,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Misunderstood,
X-Ray Spex,
Lungfish,
X-101,
Goldenarms,
Eyeless In Gaza,
B.T. Express,
June of 44,
Bauhaus,
Man Parrish,
Second Layer,
Cybotron,
Albert Ayler,
48th St. Collective,
Mission of Burma,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.