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 Kazakhstan and from Johannesburg.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 A Certain Ratio to the jazz 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 Harry Pussy. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Clear Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Young Rascals,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cecil Taylor,
Anthony Braxton,
the Human League,
Sun City Girls,
Khruangbin,
The Modern Lovers,
Derrick May,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
A Certain Ratio,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Arcadia,
Mr. Review,
The Moleskins,
Das Ding,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Sonics,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Johnny Clarke,
Motorama,
Amon Düül,
Porter Ricks,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Kinks,
Ultravox,
Mark Hollis,
Archie Shepp,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lower 48,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Parry Music,
Vladislav Delay,
DJ Style,
The Last Poets,
Groovy Waters,
Boredoms,
Soul Sonic Force,
Nik Kershaw,
Eurythmics,
The Divine Comedy,
The New Christs,
The Move,
Joe Smooth,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Count Five,
AZ,
Sarah Menescal,
Letta Mbulu,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Quantec,
Jeff Mills,
Public Enemy,
Rekid,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Human League,
Gang of Four,
Connie Case,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.