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 Belize and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Philadelphia.
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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Babytalk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pretty Things 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Television,
China Crisis,
Minny Pops,
Can,
Sam Rivers,
The Associates,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Los Fastidios,
E-Dancer,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Evens,
Kerri Chandler,
Danielle Patucci,
Scientists,
Black Sheep,
Pere Ubu,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Dirtbombs,
Heaven 17,
Lakeside,
Soft Cell,
Groovy Waters,
Eden Ahbez,
Gastr Del Sol,
UT,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Selecter,
Gil Scott Heron,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Young Rascals,
Donny Hathaway,
Black Moon,
OOIOO,
Mary Jane Girls,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ultimate Spinach,
Reagan Youth,
Erasure,
The Slackers,
Porter Ricks,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Remains,
Marvin Gaye,
Moby Grape,
Joe Finger,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Magazine,
H. Thieme,
DNA,
Lower 48,
Panda Bear,
Sparks,
The Toasters,
R.M.O.,
Quantec,
Rufus Thomas,
Mars,
Alice Coltrane,
Spoonie Gee,
Ken Boothe,
Drexciya,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.