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 Samoa and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Eurythmics to the rap 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 The Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins 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 punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
The Offenders,
Mission of Burma,
Fear,
Lou Reed,
Archie Shepp,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Zapp,
Gang Starr,
Whodini,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Kenny Larkin,
Tom Boy,
The Smiths,
the Association,
Gang Gang Dance,
Siglo XX,
Bob Dylan,
The Pretty Things,
Flipper,
Boz Scaggs,
Pulsallama,
Cymande,
Gregory Isaacs,
Suburban Knight,
MC5,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Alarm Clocks,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sun Ra,
Soft Machine,
Michelle Simonal,
Simply Red,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kurtis Blow,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Television,
Camberwell Now,
The Knickerbockers,
K-Klass,
Arab on Radar,
Bootsy Collins,
Davy DMX,
Eli Mardock,
Black Bananas,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
KRS-One,
Flamin' Groovies,
U.S. Maple,
James White and The Blacks,
Alice Coltrane,
Anthony Braxton,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kerri Chandler,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Move,
John Cale,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Max Romeo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.