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 Senegal and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Grass Roots to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Cal Tjader. All the underground hits.
All Banda Bassotti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hasil Adkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Desert Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Enemy,
The Barracudas,
The Divine Comedy,
The Index,
Pantaleimon,
Gong,
The Smiths,
Anthony Braxton,
Sight & Sound,
Mark Hollis,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Soft Machine,
Intrusion,
AZ,
Boogie Down Productions,
L. Decosne,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Guru Guru,
Swans,
OOIOO,
Ronan,
the Slits,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pulsallama,
The Angels of Light,
Vainqueur,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Alton Ellis,
The Gories,
John Foxx,
Piero Umiliani,
Alison Limerick,
Neu!,
Popol Vuh,
Jandek,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Dave Clark Five,
David Bowie,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Scion,
Peter & Gordon,
Los Fastidios,
The Real Kids,
Buzzcocks,
X-102,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Buckinghams,
Can,
Magma,
Loose Ends,
Das Ding,
Black Sheep,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Normal,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Soulsonic Force,
The J.B.'s,
The Martian, The Martian, The Martian, The Martian.
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.