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 Uganda and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro 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 Funky Four + One to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All Warren Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Divine Comedy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Frankie Knuckles,
The Slits,
DJ Sneak,
The Skatalites,
Fluxion,
Gang of Four,
Thee Headcoats,
Peter & Gordon,
Mars,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Shoche,
Suburban Knight,
MDC,
Jacques Brel,
Parry Music,
Zero Boys,
X-101,
KRS-One,
Echospace,
The New Christs,
the Sonics,
Steve Hackett,
Tres Demented,
Bauhaus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Erykah Badu,
Angry Samoans,
The United States of America,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gabor Szabo,
Jawbox,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ronan,
The Standells,
Jerry's Kids,
Can,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Invisible,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Saccharine Trust,
Crispian St. Peters,
Al Stewart,
Dennis Brown,
Prince Buster,
The Divine Comedy,
Trumans Water,
The Kinks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Dave Clark Five,
Chris Corsano,
This Heat,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Cramps,
Jimmy McGriff,
Mantronix,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Fugs,
The Star Department,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Simply Red,
Matthew Halsall,
F. McDonald,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.