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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Eyeless In Gaza to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Roxy Music. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Moody Blues,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Harpers Bizarre,
James White and The Blacks,
Althea and Donna,
Isaac Hayes,
the Human League,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Standells,
X-102,
Ludus,
Funky Four + One,
Wally Richardson,
Gang Gang Dance,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Masters at Work,
Hot Snakes,
Groovy Waters,
Mandrill,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Music Machine,
The Pretty Things,
Connie Case,
In Retrospect,
Agitation Free,
Janne Schatter,
Gang Starr,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Talk Talk,
Niagra,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Germs,
Cecil Taylor,
The Zeros,
Don Cherry,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The New Christs,
Tres Demented,
Blake Baxter,
48th St. Collective,
Sound Behaviour,
Popol Vuh,
Minor Threat,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Scratch Acid,
Alton Ellis,
Jawbox,
Absolute Body Control,
The Toasters,
The Human League,
CMW,
Albert Ayler,
Marmalade,
Gichy Dan,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.