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 Lithuania and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Fugs to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Pantytec. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Freddie Wadling,
U.S. Maple,
Cal Tjader,
Eric B and Rakim,
Tubeway Army,
Ituana,
Ultra Naté,
Donny Hathaway,
Steve Hackett,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Yellowson,
Country Joe & The Fish,
10cc,
Mandrill,
These Immortal Souls,
Mars,
DNA,
Fluxion,
Mo-Dettes,
Grauzone,
Moebius,
Bronski Beat,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Idris Muhammad,
Gang of Four,
Judy Mowatt,
Rapeman,
Supertramp,
The Selecter,
the Soft Cell,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sixth Finger,
Josef K,
Graham Central Station,
Curtis Mayfield,
Magazine,
Schoolly D,
the Fania All-Stars,
Echospace,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pussy Galore,
Gang Gang Dance,
Lalann,
Parry Music,
Connie Case,
Tom Boy,
Wasted Youth,
Wire,
Stockholm Monsters,
Arab on Radar,
Michelle Simonal,
The Associates,
Alton Ellis,
Spandau Ballet,
Brass Construction,
ABC,
Pierre Henry,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.