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 Spain and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Lagos.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Surgeon to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Little Man. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flamin' Groovies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a D'Angelo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Second Layer,
Lalo Schifrin,
Model 500,
Unwound,
Tomorrow,
Leonard Cohen,
The Mojo Men,
Quando Quango,
The Techniques,
Al Stewart,
Radiopuhelimet,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
JFA,
Livin' Joy,
Rites of Spring,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Rapeman,
Rakim,
Massinfluence,
Matthew Halsall,
John Foxx,
ABC,
Dave Gahan,
Wings,
The Evens,
Ultimate Spinach,
Banda Bassotti,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Little Man,
Wire,
a-ha,
Kenny Larkin,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Raincoats,
Arab on Radar,
Godley & Creme,
Clear Light,
Jacob Miller,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Barracudas,
DNA,
Sparks,
Jacques Brel,
Nico,
The Alarm Clocks,
Metal Thangz,
Swans,
Lakeside,
John Holt,
Hashim,
The Tremeloes,
Gang Starr,
David Axelrod,
Davy DMX,
Technova,
Henry Cow,
Bobby Womack,
The Red Krayola,
Carl Craig,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Kayak,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Gories, The Gories, The Gories, The Gories.
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.