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 Philippines and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Morten Harket to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All Peter and Kerry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every K-Klass record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Camouflage,
Crooked Eye,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ultravox,
Warsaw,
Peter & Gordon,
The Invisible,
Deadbeat,
Fela Kuti,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eli Mardock,
Guru Guru,
Jandek,
Gang Green,
Can,
Dorothy Ashby,
Tom Boy,
Jerry's Kids,
The Toasters,
Pantaleimon,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Sonics,
Lower 48,
The Tremeloes,
New Age Steppers,
Soft Cell,
Bobby Byrd,
Alice Coltrane,
New Order,
Roxy Music,
Rod Modell,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Severed Heads,
The American Breed,
Barry Ungar,
This Heat,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Glenn Branca,
Pagans,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Divine Comedy,
Make Up,
The Moody Blues,
Yellowson,
Japan,
Albert Ayler,
Swans,
the Human League,
Cecil Taylor,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bronski Beat,
ABC,
Marvin Gaye,
The Beau Brummels,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Moss Icon,
The Mojo Men,
The Skatalites,
Magma,
Black Sheep,
Warren Ellis,
Chrome,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.