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 Norway and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Skarface to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every This Heat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Animal Collective,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Swans,
Tears for Fears,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Susan Cadogan,
Slick Rick,
Wasted Youth,
The Remains,
One Last Wish,
Kenny Larkin,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Fugazi,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
T. Rex,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Victims,
Kevin Saunderson,
Youth Brigade,
Don Cherry,
The Five Americans,
The Offenders,
Slave,
The Standells,
PIL,
The Kinks,
Magma,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Harmonia,
Black Bananas,
Inner City,
The Litter,
Archie Shepp,
The Toasters,
Joey Negro,
Nirvana,
The Doobie Brothers,
Donny Hathaway,
Charles Mingus,
Wings,
The Move,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Fire Engines,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Soulsonic Force,
Big Daddy Kane,
Mars,
the Human League,
Circle Jerks,
The Smiths,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Amon Düül II,
Todd Terry,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.