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 St Kitts & Nevis 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 Shanghai and Calgary.
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 arpeggiator 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Foxx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hasil Adkins,
Todd Terry,
The Standells,
Sight & Sound,
Royal Trux,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bad Manners,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Real Kids,
Lindisfarne,
Graham Central Station,
Parry Music,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rotary Connection,
Basic Channel,
Jeff Mills,
Danielle Patucci,
Robert Hood,
Newcleus,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Barclay James Harvest,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
X-101,
Tropical Tobacco,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Second Layer,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Black Sheep,
Joensuu 1685,
the Normal,
Monolake,
The Toasters,
Loose Ends,
Deadbeat,
Isaac Hayes,
Spoonie Gee,
This Heat,
Unrelated Segments,
The American Breed,
Ronnie Foster,
Brand Nubian,
Letta Mbulu,
Gichy Dan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Groovy Waters,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sam Rivers,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Wake,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Sonics,
Little Man,
Mission of Burma,
Prince Buster,
Cecil Taylor,
10cc,
Eden Ahbez,
ABC,
The Techniques,
Mo-Dettes,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.