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 South Sudan and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Normal to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Main Source record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nik Kershaw,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dorothy Ashby,
Byron Stingily,
The Neon Judgement,
Johnny Clarke,
Eric Dolphy,
The American Breed,
ABBA,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Soul Sonic Force,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sam Rivers,
Lightning Bolt,
Jacob Miller,
DJ Style,
The J.B.'s,
Chris Corsano,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
James White and The Blacks,
Y Pants,
Parry Music,
the Bar-Kays,
Oneida,
Ultra Naté,
Josef K,
Essential Logic,
Agent Orange,
Piero Umiliani,
Black Moon,
Cluster,
Hot Snakes,
The Move,
Masters at Work,
The Leaves,
Main Source,
These Immortal Souls,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Vogues,
Stetsasonic,
Alice Coltrane,
Eli Mardock,
The Tremeloes,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Alison Limerick,
Cecil Taylor,
Gang Gang Dance,
Suburban Knight,
The Gories,
Lalann,
Inner City,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Rekid,
Youth Brigade,
Albert Ayler,
Colin Newman,
FM Einheit,
The Angels of Light,
Make Up,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jerry's Kids,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
DNA,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.