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 Swaziland and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Bill Wells to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All The Music Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Music Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
The Pop Group,
Eric Dolphy,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bob Dylan,
Josef K,
Laurel Aitken,
Mark Hollis,
New York Dolls,
Crispy Ambulance,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Selecter,
Fat Boys,
Pet Shop Boys,
X-101,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Thompson Twins,
Avey Tare,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Tomorrow,
B.T. Express,
Don Cherry,
The Neon Judgement,
Arab on Radar,
Fear,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Star Department,
Gastr Del Sol,
Todd Rundgren,
Gil Scott Heron,
Juan Atkins,
Can,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lungfish,
Camouflage,
the Germs,
The Beau Brummels,
Danielle Patucci,
Lou Christie,
Aloha Tigers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Easy Going,
Underground Resistance,
Sonic Youth,
Bad Manners,
Faust,
DJ Style,
Excepter,
Japan,
Rapeman,
Funky Four + One,
Nas,
David McCallum,
Minny Pops,
Little Man,
The Monochrome Set,
Desert Stars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Subhumans,
Mad Mike,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.