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 Mauritania and from Glasgow.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Cymande to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ossler. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Circle Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonny Sharrock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Enemy,
Bad Manners,
Gang Starr,
Monks,
The Victims,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Joe Smooth,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Maleditus Sound,
Michelle Simonal,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sun City Girls,
The Offenders,
Camouflage,
The Golliwogs,
Robert Wyatt,
Barrington Levy,
Sonic Youth,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Jeff Lynne,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ituana,
Slave,
Aswad,
Kenny Larkin,
Kayak,
Hasil Adkins,
R.M.O.,
Bush Tetras,
Infiniti,
Essential Logic,
Duran Duran,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sam Rivers,
The Blackbyrds,
Charles Mingus,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Derrick May,
The Index,
Ice-T,
Flipper,
KRS-One,
Pere Ubu,
Minnie Riperton,
Radio Birdman,
Roxette,
Anakelly,
Rotary Connection,
Audionom,
The Dead C,
Icehouse,
Unrelated Segments,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Eurythmics,
The Durutti Column,
John Foxx,
Kerrie Biddell,
Minny Pops,
Wasted Youth,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.