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 Switzerland and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Aaron Thompson to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All T.S.O.L. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Halsall 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bluetip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Real Kids,
Bush Tetras,
Soft Cell,
New York Dolls,
The Star Department,
The Count Five,
Roy Ayers,
Derrick Morgan,
Marmalade,
The Misunderstood,
John Cale,
Silicon Teens,
Gang Starr,
The Sound,
Das Ding,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bobby Byrd,
Josef K,
The Move,
John Foxx,
Bad Manners,
Little Man,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stetsasonic,
Section 25,
Ultravox,
John Holt,
Popol Vuh,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cybotron,
Dennis Brown,
Visage,
David McCallum,
Lou Christie,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Monochrome Set,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Saccharine Trust,
Kerri Chandler,
Sparks,
The Happenings,
John Lydon,
Andrew Hill,
Tom Boy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Zapp,
Ossler,
Gregory Isaacs,
Cheater Slicks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Adolescents,
Man Eating Sloth,
Ornette Coleman,
Jandek,
Marc Almond,
Gichy Dan,
Mary Jane Girls,
Quantec,
the Sonics,
Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon, Pantaleimon.
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.