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 Kenya and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Silicon Teens to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aaron Thompson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
Q and Not U,
Avey Tare,
The Standells,
Cybotron,
The Selecter,
Motorama,
Anthony Braxton,
Tres Demented,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Roy Ayers,
Porter Ricks,
Wasted Youth,
Matthew Halsall,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Rakim,
Darondo,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Organ,
The Doors,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Johnny Clarke,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Pop Group,
Black Sheep,
Lalann,
Robert Görl,
Danielle Patucci,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Seeds,
Chris Corsano,
K-Klass,
Crispian St. Peters,
Prince Buster,
Roxy Music,
The Velvet Underground,
The Golliwogs,
Neu!,
Rekid,
Loose Ends,
Jawbox,
The Electric Prunes,
La Düsseldorf,
Ronan,
Gang Green,
Traffic Nightmare,
Morten Harket,
Circle Jerks,
Infiniti,
Nik Kershaw,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Icehouse,
Hardrive,
Susan Cadogan,
The Zeros,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ornette Coleman,
Clear Light,
Robert Wyatt,
Scan 7,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Rhythm & Sound,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.