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 Argentina and from Portland.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Buckinghams to the grime 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Lungfish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Amazonics,
Can,
D'Angelo,
the Slits,
Thompson Twins,
The Blackbyrds,
Howard Jones,
Ash Ra Tempel,
June of 44,
The Doors,
Oneida,
Henry Cow,
Junior Murvin,
The Monks,
Gang Gang Dance,
Excepter,
The Knickerbockers,
Alison Limerick,
Parry Music,
Godley & Creme,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Agitation Free,
The Moleskins,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Desert Stars,
Bobby Byrd,
Electric Prunes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Marine Girls,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Supertramp,
The Slackers,
Lungfish,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Bar-Kays,
Patti Smith,
Johnny Clarke,
Interpol,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Fortunes,
The Wake,
Marshall Jefferson,
ABC,
the Swans,
Donald Byrd,
Sonic Youth,
Gang of Four,
Moebius,
Nas,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Yusef Lateef,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Massinfluence,
The Toasters,
Radiopuhelimet,
Monolake,
Echospace,
The Skatalites,
Symarip,
Minor Threat,
The Happenings,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Saccharine Trust,
R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O..
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.