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 Lesotho and from Bremen.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Halifax.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Leaves to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All Soft Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Bill Wells,
Pierre Henry,
Robert Wyatt,
The Blackbyrds,
Ultra Naté,
The Grass Roots,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Gladiators,
Carl Craig,
Intrusion,
Kerri Chandler,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Mojo Men,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Motorama,
Cecil Taylor,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Roxette,
the Association,
Tres Demented,
Suburban Knight,
Sparks,
Ultravox,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Schoolly D,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sixth Finger,
Soft Machine,
The Blues Magoos,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Fortunes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Real Kids,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lou Reed,
Freddie Wadling,
Boogie Down Productions,
Aural Exciters,
These Immortal Souls,
Ornette Coleman,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pantytec,
Gregory Isaacs,
CMW,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Walker Brothers,
Public Enemy,
Flash Fearless,
Laurel Aitken,
Slick Rick,
Rapeman,
The Sound,
In Retrospect,
Derrick May,
Dawn Penn,
The Beau Brummels,
Skaos,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.