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 Mauritius 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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin 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 Fela Kuti to the punk 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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Foxx 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 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
Hashim,
Television,
Oblivians,
Unrelated Segments,
June Days,
Magazine,
Gil Scott Heron,
Smog,
The Offenders,
T.S.O.L.,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Invisible,
Dorothy Ashby,
Matthew Halsall,
The Velvet Underground,
The Detroit Cobras,
Iggy Pop,
Sam Rivers,
Amon Düül II,
Toni Rubio,
Barclay James Harvest,
Qualms,
The Associates,
Can,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Marmalade,
Electric Prunes,
Surgeon,
Roy Ayers,
Mars,
Monolake,
China Crisis,
the Association,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Black Dice,
The Gories,
Derrick Morgan,
Cameo,
The Techniques,
Lower 48,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Roxette,
Radiopuhelimet,
X-Ray Spex,
The Blues Magoos,
Visage,
Mantronix,
Pulsallama,
Rekid,
T. Rex,
Bobby Byrd,
Bizarre Inc.,
Terry Callier,
The Searchers,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sixth Finger,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.