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 Costa Rica and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Wolf Eyes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
The Count Five,
The Beau Brummels,
One Last Wish,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pantaleimon,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Young Rascals,
Sex Pistols,
Flash Fearless,
Eurythmics,
Kayak,
Warren Ellis,
Letta Mbulu,
MC5,
Kurtis Blow,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Mummies,
The Red Krayola,
The Pretty Things,
Black Sheep,
Byron Stingily,
Archie Shepp,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Knickerbockers,
Deakin,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Freddie Wadling,
Stetsasonic,
Ultimate Spinach,
Max Romeo,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
X-101,
Shuggie Otis,
the Swans,
Anthony Braxton,
Talk Talk,
Marine Girls,
Subhumans,
Leonard Cohen,
Pole,
Delta 5,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Vogues,
Jerry's Kids,
Dark Day,
Amon Düül,
The Electric Prunes,
Rapeman,
Jeff Lynne,
The Monochrome Set,
Simply Red,
Alton Ellis,
Matthew Halsall,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Tropical Tobacco,
Soul Sonic Force,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.