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 Montenegro and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Robert Wyatt to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bluetip 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joensuu 1685 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Kinks,
Colin Newman,
Mo-Dettes,
Cluster,
Saccharine Trust,
Siglo XX,
Harpers Bizarre,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Adolescents,
Matthew Halsall,
L. Decosne,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Blancmange,
the Fania All-Stars,
Jeff Lynne,
Sällskapet,
Amon Düül,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Don Cherry,
Kerrie Biddell,
Joensuu 1685,
The American Breed,
Boz Scaggs,
Fad Gadget,
The Birthday Party,
The Remains,
Maleditus Sound,
Echospace,
Scion,
Sixth Finger,
Marshall Jefferson,
the Human League,
Stiv Bators,
Franke,
Pulsallama,
Agitation Free,
Goldenarms,
Procol Harum,
48th St. Collective,
Sarah Menescal,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Swans,
A Certain Ratio,
Radiohead,
The Zeros,
Albert Ayler,
Ice-T,
Desert Stars,
Jacob Miller,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Scrapy,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Searchers,
Lou Christie,
Niagra,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.