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 Finland and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Duran Duran to the crunk 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All The Names tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Outsiders,
Crispy Ambulance,
A Certain Ratio,
Pulsallama,
The Fall,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
E-Dancer,
The Durutti Column,
Sparks,
The Young Rascals,
The Toasters,
The American Breed,
Pole,
The Fuzztones,
Rekid,
Qualms,
Piero Umiliani,
Scion,
Yellowson,
Wally Richardson,
Camberwell Now,
Blake Baxter,
The Beau Brummels,
Negative Approach,
Donald Byrd,
Jesper Dahlback,
Niagra,
Lower 48,
Alphaville,
The Five Americans,
Dennis Brown,
Prince Buster,
Scientists,
Mandrill,
The Fugs,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tubeway Army,
Nik Kershaw,
ABBA,
The Move,
The Neon Judgement,
Dave Gahan,
Q and Not U,
Hardrive,
Carl Craig,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Japan,
L. Decosne,
Simply Red,
a-ha,
Rites of Spring,
Hasil Adkins,
Cheater Slicks,
Archie Shepp,
Bronski Beat,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Velvet Underground,
Ralphi Rosario,
Man Eating Sloth,
Soft Cell,
The Kinks,
D'Angelo,
The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men, The Mojo Men.
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.