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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Roxy Music. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sonics 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lafayette Afro Rock Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Barclay James Harvest,
Simply Red,
The Zeros,
Reuben Wilson,
Q65,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bob Dylan,
Chris & Cosey,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Walker Brothers,
Visage,
Wings,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Morten Harket,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dead Boys,
Tres Demented,
Lou Reed,
Brothers Johnson,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Isaac Hayes,
Smog,
the Fania All-Stars,
Excepter,
Pierre Henry,
Glenn Branca,
Flash Fearless,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Kaleidoscope,
Black Moon,
Janne Schatter,
Young Marble Giants,
Underground Resistance,
Henry Cow,
Gang Starr,
the Association,
Warsaw,
Maleditus Sound,
Idris Muhammad,
Leonard Cohen,
Liliput,
Flipper,
The Star Department,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bush Tetras,
Suicide,
Faraquet,
The Pop Group,
Absolute Body Control,
Juan Atkins,
Index,
Au Pairs,
Roy Ayers,
Talk Talk,
Don Cherry,
Lakeside,
Carl Craig,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl.
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.