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 Ethiopia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Jimmy McGriff. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five 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 theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
June Days,
Wasted Youth,
Pantytec,
Scratch Acid,
Mandrill,
The United States of America,
the Association,
X-101,
Arab on Radar,
UT,
Henry Cow,
Todd Terry,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Soft Cell,
Surgeon,
La Düsseldorf,
Gastr Del Sol,
Skarface,
Scott Walker,
Roger Hodgson,
Trumans Water,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sonic Youth,
MC5,
David McCallum,
Magazine,
Gang Starr,
Tomorrow,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lyres,
The Cure,
Amon Düül,
Royal Trux,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Kinks,
The Gun Club,
Moss Icon,
The Evens,
Aaron Thompson,
Spandau Ballet,
The Music Machine,
Eric Dolphy,
Neu!,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Crash Course in Science,
48th St. Collective,
The Move,
Terrestrial Tones,
L. Decosne,
Grandmaster Flash,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Josef K,
David Bowie,
The Offenders,
Circle Jerks,
The Fuzztones,
Half Japanese,
Cal Tjader,
Japan,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.