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 Norway and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 808 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 Soul Sonic Force to the jazz 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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Inner City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Near record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
Y Pants,
Sun Ra,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ronan,
Duran Duran,
The Birthday Party,
Warren Ellis,
Ossler,
Boredoms,
Parry Music,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Barbara Tucker,
The United States of America,
Los Fastidios,
John Holt,
Aloha Tigers,
Swell Maps,
The Monks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Tears for Fears,
The Martian,
The Durutti Column,
ABC,
The Invisible,
Albert Ayler,
The Gladiators,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Velvet Underground,
Bill Wells,
Monks,
Panda Bear,
Outsiders,
Reagan Youth,
Joy Division,
The Moody Blues,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Roxy Music,
Gong,
Alphaville,
John Cale,
Gang Green,
Bad Manners,
Underground Resistance,
U.S. Maple,
The J.B.'s,
Godley & Creme,
Rod Modell,
Tomorrow,
Don Cherry,
Sixth Finger,
Ultravox,
Eden Ahbez,
Charles Mingus,
Colin Newman,
Letta Mbulu,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Bootsy Collins,
X-101,
Funky Four + One,
The Litter,
Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith.
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.