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 Saudi Arabia and from Portland.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Gladiators to the jazz 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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All The Slits 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 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 an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alphaville record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
The Kinks,
Marc Almond,
Clear Light,
Matthew Bourne,
Das Ding,
The Sound,
The Smoke,
Gong,
James White and The Blacks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Chrome,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jacob Miller,
David McCallum,
Fela Kuti,
Hashim,
Dave Gahan,
Sex Pistols,
Josef K,
Camberwell Now,
Ronan,
Moby Grape,
The Last Poets,
Duran Duran,
Tim Buckley,
Model 500,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Music Machine,
Banda Bassotti,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Henry Cow,
Drive Like Jehu,
T.S.O.L.,
Tommy Roe,
Liliput,
Ituana,
Radiohead,
The Blues Magoos,
China Crisis,
Tres Demented,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Howard Jones,
Brass Construction,
Terry Callier,
Au Pairs,
Skaos,
The Alarm Clocks,
Agent Orange,
the Soft Cell,
Unwound,
Vainqueur,
Fatback Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Supertramp,
Monolake,
Marcia Griffiths,
Yazoo,
The Dead C,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.