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 Uzbekistan and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the dance 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sight & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
FM Einheit,
Junior Murvin,
Lightning Bolt,
James White and The Blacks,
Peter & Gordon,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Vogues,
Aural Exciters,
Ituana,
the Soft Cell,
Chrome,
Frankie Knuckles,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Guru Guru,
Glenn Branca,
Grauzone,
Nirvana,
The Walker Brothers,
Ken Boothe,
John Cale,
Kerri Chandler,
Idris Muhammad,
Youth Brigade,
Hot Snakes,
Ten City,
The Saints,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Bar-Kays,
Letta Mbulu,
The Gap Band,
Minor Threat,
Gerry Rafferty,
Boredoms,
Ralphi Rosario,
Quadrant,
Aloha Tigers,
Subhumans,
Slick Rick,
The Count Five,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Yusef Lateef,
Piero Umiliani,
Alton Ellis,
Talk Talk,
Peter and Kerry,
Roger Hodgson,
Marine Girls,
Funky Four + One,
Can,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Girls At Our Best!,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Arthur Verocai,
Donald Byrd,
Malaria!,
The Skatalites,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Patti Smith,
Arcadia,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.