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 Albania and from Lagos.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 harpsichord 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Golliwogs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ituana record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Accadde A,
D'Angelo,
Lower 48,
Bill Wells,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Joey Negro,
June of 44,
MDC,
Nas,
Moby Grape,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
Girls At Our Best!,
Interpol,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mo-Dettes,
Urselle,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lebanon Hanover,
Susan Cadogan,
Bob Dylan,
Joensuu 1685,
Barclay James Harvest,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
LL Cool J,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ronan,
The Real Kids,
Yaz,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Joe Smooth,
Scrapy,
Cheater Slicks,
Black Pus,
The Motions,
Thompson Twins,
Average White Band,
Harmonia,
Harpers Bizarre,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Derrick May,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Index,
Absolute Body Control,
Cecil Taylor,
The Busters,
Ituana,
Ultimate Spinach,
ABBA,
Dave Gahan,
Piero Umiliani,
The Litter,
Ken Boothe,
It's A Beautiful Day,
the Fania All-Stars,
Robert Wyatt,
Johnny Osbourne,
L. Decosne,
Nation of Ulysses,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.