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 Somalia and from Mexico City.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 marimba 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 Aswad to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delta 5,
James White and The Blacks,
Unwound,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
DJ Style,
Johnny Clarke,
Grey Daturas,
Lou Reed,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Wasted Youth,
Flipper,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Doobie Brothers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pere Ubu,
The Divine Comedy,
Mantronix,
Anthony Braxton,
Absolute Body Control,
Yusef Lateef,
X-102,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Sonics,
Bad Manners,
Bang On A Can,
Gong,
Main Source,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Red Krayola,
The Velvet Underground,
Swans,
The Selecter,
Parry Music,
Cymande,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ken Boothe,
Cybotron,
Symarip,
Derrick Morgan,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Intrusion,
Laurel Aitken,
Boogie Down Productions,
Crispian St. Peters,
Das Ding,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
David McCallum,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Fuzztones,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Evens,
The Buckinghams,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
John Coltrane,
Marshall Jefferson,
Carl Craig,
Deakin,
Make Up,
Terry Callier,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.