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 Ukraine and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 snare 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 EPMD to the electroclash 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 The Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All Theoretical Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum 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 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Zeros,
Stereo Dub,
Scratch Acid,
K-Klass,
Ken Boothe,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Flesh Eaters,
Boredoms,
The Blackbyrds,
The Pretty Things,
The Toasters,
New York Dolls,
Alton Ellis,
the Germs,
Marine Girls,
Derrick Morgan,
Buzzcocks,
Aloha Tigers,
Jawbox,
Robert Görl,
John Cale,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Liliput,
Lindisfarne,
Marmalade,
Index,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Zero Boys,
Sam Rivers,
Dorothy Ashby,
China Crisis,
Yaz,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Five Americans,
Essential Logic,
Tears for Fears,
Can,
The Busters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Detroit Cobras,
Hardrive,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Roger Hodgson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Fortunes,
Drive Like Jehu,
New Order,
48th St. Collective,
Swell Maps,
The Grass Roots,
The Cure,
Gichy Dan,
Popol Vuh,
The Red Krayola,
Donny Hathaway,
The Misunderstood,
Todd Rundgren,
Sun City Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.