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 Ukraine and from Houston.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 clarinet 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Zeros 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Tubeway Army,
Aswad,
Pagans,
Con Funk Shun,
Newcleus,
Bobby Byrd,
Steve Hackett,
Sexual Harrassment,
Maleditus Sound,
FM Einheit,
Althea and Donna,
Tom Boy,
Rotary Connection,
Nirvana,
Chris Corsano,
The Searchers,
Deadbeat,
Sandy B,
Slick Rick,
Sound Behaviour,
Swell Maps,
Arthur Verocai,
F. McDonald,
Mark Hollis,
The Blues Magoos,
Alphaville,
Subhumans,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cybotron,
Blossom Toes,
Howard Jones,
Camberwell Now,
The Sonics,
Lungfish,
Angry Samoans,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ronan,
The Human League,
Severed Heads,
The Count Five,
T.S.O.L.,
Bill Near,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Alton Ellis,
Sonic Youth,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rekid,
Blancmange,
DNA,
Rod Modell,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Marc Almond,
Flamin' Groovies,
Kerri Chandler,
Albert Ayler,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Soft Machine,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart.
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.