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 Lebanon and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Kinks to the electroclash 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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Animal Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Ludus,
Lungfish,
Terry Callier,
Mars,
Delta 5,
cv313,
Cymande,
Tres Demented,
The Fortunes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Whodini,
Malaria!,
Sound Behaviour,
The Gap Band,
Youth Brigade,
Kaleidoscope,
Jacob Miller,
Ultimate Spinach,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Busters,
FM Einheit,
Angry Samoans,
Gerry Rafferty,
Darondo,
Warsaw,
Fatback Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Susan Cadogan,
Mandrill,
Joe Smooth,
The Sonics,
Kas Product,
Blake Baxter,
EPMD,
Niagra,
Minor Threat,
The Kinks,
Stiv Bators,
Hashim,
The Last Poets,
The Five Americans,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jeff Lynne,
Joensuu 1685,
Dark Day,
Bauhaus,
Dorothy Ashby,
Tommy Roe,
Bluetip,
Cheater Slicks,
the Association,
Isaac Hayes,
Glenn Branca,
Pole,
Iggy Pop,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sight & Sound,
Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne.
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.