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 Belgium and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the sitar 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 The Fugs to the funk 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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All Howard Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Detroit Cobras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Buzzcocks,
Isaac Hayes,
Echospace,
Charles Mingus,
In Retrospect,
The Cure,
David McCallum,
Kenny Larkin,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Moleskins,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Pere Ubu,
Rakim,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Mojo Men,
Sex Pistols,
Gichy Dan,
Sarah Menescal,
The Cowsills,
Fluxion,
Royal Trux,
Dual Sessions,
The Last Poets,
Joe Smooth,
The Standells,
Black Pus,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Babytalk,
a-ha,
The Pop Group,
Accadde A,
Moss Icon,
Aloha Tigers,
Goldenarms,
Smog,
Eve St. Jones,
June of 44,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Five Americans,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cecil Taylor,
Iggy Pop,
Anakelly,
Gang of Four,
Kaleidoscope,
Lindisfarne,
The Techniques,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Blues Magoos,
the Slits,
Lightning Bolt,
Bill Near,
Chrome,
Gil Scott Heron,
Al Stewart,
The Litter,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.