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 Senegal and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bobby Womack to the grunge 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 The Velvet Underground. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Association record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
This Heat,
Patti Smith,
The Golliwogs,
Technova,
The Dirtbombs,
The Mojo Men,
Scott Walker,
Prince Buster,
Country Teasers,
Pere Ubu,
Soft Machine,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Von Mondo,
Gastr Del Sol,
Tommy Roe,
The Smiths,
Ituana,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Chrome,
Carl Craig,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
MDC,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Dead C,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Panda Bear,
Minutemen,
R.M.O.,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Gories,
The Busters,
EPMD,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Mummies,
Connie Case,
Jacob Miller,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Barclay James Harvest,
Stetsasonic,
Marc Almond,
Au Pairs,
Johnny Clarke,
Bauhaus,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Toni Rubio,
The Fire Engines,
Sun Ra,
Jacques Brel,
Camberwell Now,
Alton Ellis,
Qualms,
Skarface,
Kaleidoscope,
Aloha Tigers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
John Coltrane,
Swell Maps,
Peter and Kerry,
The Standells,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.