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 Mauritius and from Glasgow.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Jawbox to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Heaven 17,
ABBA,
Charles Mingus,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
David Axelrod,
Camberwell Now,
Lyres,
Mantronix,
Aural Exciters,
T.S.O.L.,
The Sound,
Junior Murvin,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Iggy Pop,
Quando Quango,
Boz Scaggs,
Amon Düül II,
Fela Kuti,
Little Man,
Loose Ends,
Frankie Knuckles,
Darondo,
Bobby Byrd,
Ossler,
Aaron Thompson,
Funky Four + One,
Dead Boys,
Throbbing Gristle,
Crime,
Young Marble Giants,
Unrelated Segments,
The Gap Band,
The United States of America,
The Offenders,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Neil Young,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Cal Tjader,
Aloha Tigers,
Alice Coltrane,
Kool Moe Dee,
Tears for Fears,
Yazoo,
Davy DMX,
Cheater Slicks,
Alton Ellis,
Hasil Adkins,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Magazine,
Blake Baxter,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Black Dice,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Colin Newman,
The Zeros,
Schoolly D,
Desert Stars,
the Germs,
Bizarre Inc.,
Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims.
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.