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 Zambia and from Calgary.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Colin Newman to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All MC5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mighty Diamonds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crooked Eye,
Heaven 17,
Radiopuhelimet,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lalann,
Susan Cadogan,
Kaleidoscope,
Michelle Simonal,
Desert Stars,
Sonny Sharrock,
Wasted Youth,
Rufus Thomas,
Circle Jerks,
Camouflage,
Thee Headcoats,
48th St. Collective,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Yusef Lateef,
Shoche,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Standells,
Lightning Bolt,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Skatalites,
Mission of Burma,
Alton Ellis,
D'Angelo,
Dawn Penn,
Das Ding,
Pagans,
Aswad,
The Golliwogs,
Harpers Bizarre,
Average White Band,
Stetsasonic,
Fear,
Yazoo,
The Smiths,
Ultra Naté,
The Smoke,
Todd Terry,
Accadde A,
Drexciya,
Steve Hackett,
Excepter,
Simply Red,
Bluetip,
The Dirtbombs,
The Real Kids,
Magma,
Lee Hazlewood,
Second Layer,
Be Bop Deluxe,
DJ Style,
Flash Fearless,
Bill Wells,
Bootsy Collins,
Neil Young,
Black Bananas,
The Saints,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.