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 Papua New Guinea and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Popol Vuh to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Harry Pussy,
The Happenings,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Nick Fraelich,
China Crisis,
Index,
The Victims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Girls At Our Best!,
KRS-One,
Kerrie Biddell,
Derrick May,
The Real Kids,
Blancmange,
Aswad,
Jandek,
The American Breed,
Silicon Teens,
Todd Terry,
The Saints,
Pantaleimon,
Radiopuhelimet,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Desert Stars,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Pagans,
Peter & Gordon,
Malaria!,
The Black Dice,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lungfish,
Gerry Rafferty,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Stooges,
Minor Threat,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Jawbox,
Rotary Connection,
Barrington Levy,
Agitation Free,
Crispy Ambulance,
Glenn Branca,
Fugazi,
Donny Hathaway,
Loose Ends,
Scan 7,
Depeche Mode,
Leonard Cohen,
Moebius,
David Bowie,
The Remains,
Au Pairs,
Bootsy Collins,
Harmonia,
The Star Department,
The Music Machine,
Pet Shop Boys,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Tom Boy,
Massinfluence,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.