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 Luxembourg and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 Tehran and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Electric Prunes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers Ubiquity record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Cowsills,
Talk Talk,
Drive Like Jehu,
Laurel Aitken,
Amon Düül,
The Beau Brummels,
Grey Daturas,
Arcadia,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Procol Harum,
Soft Cell,
Joe Smooth,
Lou Christie,
Peter and Kerry,
the Germs,
Pere Ubu,
EPMD,
Ten City,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Brass Construction,
10cc,
Funkadelic,
Idris Muhammad,
Blossom Toes,
Bootsy Collins,
Simply Red,
Monks,
Sex Pistols,
Marine Girls,
Joe Finger,
Lucky Dragons,
Soul Sonic Force,
DJ Sneak,
Jerry's Kids,
The Evens,
Fluxion,
Sam Rivers,
Faraquet,
Althea and Donna,
Fela Kuti,
Lower 48,
Brand Nubian,
Oneida,
Mark Hollis,
Bad Manners,
JFA,
The Monochrome Set,
Saccharine Trust,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Inner City,
Iggy Pop,
Ice-T,
Mars,
the Normal,
Chrome,
Quando Quango,
Deakin,
Leonard Cohen,
Arab on Radar,
Minnie Riperton,
Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio.
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.