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 Singapore and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Aloha Tigers to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All L. Decosne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron 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 mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
The Moody Blues,
the Soft Cell,
The Blackbyrds,
Hoover,
Lebanon Hanover,
Deepchord,
Bluetip,
The Knickerbockers,
Soul Sonic Force,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Grass Roots,
Jesper Dahlback,
Tres Demented,
Sällskapet,
Pantaleimon,
Minny Pops,
Young Marble Giants,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Boz Scaggs,
Sun Ra,
Khruangbin,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Moss Icon,
The Evens,
Freddie Wadling,
ABBA,
Second Layer,
The Dave Clark Five,
The American Breed,
Bobby Womack,
Quadrant,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Sonics,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Brick,
The Associates,
The Walker Brothers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Toasters,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Velvet Underground,
Gastr Del Sol,
Black Flag,
The Residents,
Robert Hood,
Bobby Sherman,
Wolf Eyes,
Stetsasonic,
E-Dancer,
Amon Düül II,
The Sound,
The Busters,
Q and Not U,
Electric Prunes,
Basic Channel,
Minutemen,
Cal Tjader,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.