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 Dominican Republic and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bang On A Can to the rock 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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Moss Icon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Sam Rivers,
UT,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sister Nancy,
Sandy B,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Move,
Fat Boys,
Joe Finger,
The Standells,
The Raincoats,
Aswad,
A Certain Ratio,
Oblivians,
Slave,
Yazoo,
Donald Byrd,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Flag,
Spoonie Gee,
The Slits,
Fluxion,
Bill Wells,
Fad Gadget,
The Selecter,
Grauzone,
The Doors,
Ponytail,
T.S.O.L.,
Gang of Four,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jawbox,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lindisfarne,
Lyres,
Echospace,
the Association,
Marine Girls,
Nation of Ulysses,
cv313,
New Age Steppers,
Stiv Bators,
Zapp,
Schoolly D,
Byron Stingily,
Jacques Brel,
KRS-One,
the Swans,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Liliput,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Junior Murvin,
Barrington Levy,
Rosa Yemen,
Unrelated Segments,
Tubeway Army,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Blancmange,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.