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 Botswana and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Aswad to the rock 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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All Suburban Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vladislav Delay record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Janne Schatter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Chris & Cosey,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jesper Dahlback,
Essential Logic,
Quando Quango,
cv313,
Blossom Toes,
Talk Talk,
Loose Ends,
The Monochrome Set,
Ralphi Rosario,
The United States of America,
Fear,
a-ha,
The Smiths,
The Kinks,
Pere Ubu,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Excepter,
Boredoms,
Au Pairs,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Icehouse,
Neil Young,
Von Mondo,
Patti Smith,
Massinfluence,
Zapp,
Arthur Verocai,
Prince Buster,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Slits,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Joy Division,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Max Romeo,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Malaria!,
Susan Cadogan,
Soul II Soul,
Pharoah Sanders,
Brand Nubian,
Index,
Joensuu 1685,
DNA,
The Mojo Men,
Althea and Donna,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Selecter,
Sarah Menescal,
F. McDonald,
Grey Daturas,
Joe Finger,
FM Einheit,
Dual Sessions,
Public Enemy,
Royal Trux,
Letta Mbulu,
Glenn Branca,
Desert Stars,
The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats.
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.