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 Uganda and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))) to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sonics. All the underground hits.
All F. McDonald tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siouxsie and the Banshees record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Youth Brigade,
Dual Sessions,
Echospace,
Rakim,
The Misunderstood,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pagans,
Surgeon,
Soft Cell,
Mantronix,
Gang Green,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Rosa Yemen,
FM Einheit,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Dave Gahan,
Kool Moe Dee,
Silicon Teens,
Lucky Dragons,
a-ha,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Modern Lovers,
Pharoah Sanders,
Scott Walker,
the Slits,
Brothers Johnson,
Letta Mbulu,
Sparks,
The Standells,
Ken Boothe,
Arab on Radar,
The Associates,
Shuggie Otis,
The Invisible,
the Normal,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ultravox,
Lyres,
The Durutti Column,
The Music Machine,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Qualms,
The Smiths,
Hardrive,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Black Flag,
The Stooges,
Schoolly D,
Marvin Gaye,
Sällskapet,
Jeff Lynne,
Mission of Burma,
Sonny Sharrock,
Derrick May,
Underground Resistance,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.