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 Sierra Leone and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 808 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 Cal Tjader to the funk 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Black Dice record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pole,
AZ,
The Detroit Cobras,
The United States of America,
Arcadia,
Absolute Body Control,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sparks,
Roy Ayers,
The Stooges,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sugar Minott,
Jacques Brel,
Faraquet,
Swell Maps,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Peter & Gordon,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gregory Isaacs,
Dennis Brown,
Ronan,
Pantaleimon,
the Soft Cell,
The Vogues,
PIL,
the Association,
Negative Approach,
Jimmy McGriff,
Soulsonic Force,
Leonard Cohen,
The Sonics,
The Dead C,
Niagra,
The Gladiators,
Terry Callier,
Buzzcocks,
Soft Machine,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Barrington Levy,
Sister Nancy,
The Residents,
Liliput,
June of 44,
Mr. Review,
Whodini,
Mandrill,
T. Rex,
Freddie Wadling,
Todd Rundgren,
Zero Boys,
Juan Atkins,
The Slits,
Alison Limerick,
The Pretty Things,
Eve St. Jones,
Jandek,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Walker Brothers,
Bang On A Can,
Joey Negro,
Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5, Delta 5.
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.