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 Honduras and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Anthony Braxton to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Busters. All the underground hits.
All Flipper tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Kas Product,
Motorama,
John Holt,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Nick Fraelich,
Brand Nubian,
Bauhaus,
Nation of Ulysses,
Prince Buster,
The Standells,
Camouflage,
Scientists,
The Gladiators,
Mission of Burma,
Deepchord,
The Beau Brummels,
Rod Modell,
Moebius,
Junior Murvin,
Peter and Kerry,
CMW,
Blossom Toes,
The Real Kids,
Fluxion,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eric Dolphy,
Sight & Sound,
The Names,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Gang Dance,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Dennis Brown,
Avey Tare,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Soul II Soul,
Alton Ellis,
Symarip,
Jeff Lynne,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tommy Roe,
Spandau Ballet,
Henry Cow,
Tim Buckley,
Chrome,
The Monks,
Mo-Dettes,
T. Rex,
Spoonie Gee,
Severed Heads,
Bang On A Can,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Smoke,
Monks,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Skarface,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Knickerbockers,
Shuggie Otis,
the Human League,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.