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 New Zealand and from Jakarta.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 Inner City to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Slackers. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aswad,
Black Flag,
John Coltrane,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Niagra,
One Last Wish,
Surgeon,
The Skatalites,
The Music Machine,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Names,
The Gories,
Outsiders,
Harpers Bizarre,
Roy Ayers,
The Grass Roots,
Gong,
Stockholm Monsters,
Whodini,
Minny Pops,
Sonny Sharrock,
Isaac Hayes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Neu!,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Buzzcocks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sparks,
Mandrill,
The Busters,
The Toasters,
Absolute Body Control,
Matthew Halsall,
Eden Ahbez,
Bluetip,
Kevin Saunderson,
Wings,
The Human League,
Zero Boys,
Public Enemy,
The Blues Magoos,
John Holt,
Al Stewart,
Banda Bassotti,
The Doors,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Yusef Lateef,
Arthur Verocai,
Rotary Connection,
Infiniti,
The Black Dice,
In Retrospect,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Evens,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gang of Four,
Masters at Work,
Magma,
a-ha,
The Barracudas,
Thee Headcoats,
Chris Corsano,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.