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 Benin and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Groovy Waters to the jazz 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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Quadrant,
CMW,
Zapp,
Mission of Burma,
The Toasters,
Josef K,
Gregory Isaacs,
the Slits,
Groovy Waters,
Bush Tetras,
The Techniques,
Jandek,
Rosa Yemen,
Royal Trux,
Liliput,
Depeche Mode,
LL Cool J,
Steve Hackett,
Kas Product,
The United States of America,
Con Funk Shun,
Soft Cell,
The Martian,
Davy DMX,
Q65,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Evens,
Kayak,
Oneida,
Country Teasers,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
8 Eyed Spy,
John Foxx,
Joe Smooth,
Gabor Szabo,
Aaron Thompson,
JFA,
Glenn Branca,
The Standells,
Dual Sessions,
MC5,
Minor Threat,
Eric Copeland,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobby Sherman,
Stereo Dub,
The Young Rascals,
Thee Headcoats,
Eli Mardock,
Moebius,
The Detroit Cobras,
Pylon,
The Litter,
Brothers Johnson,
The Searchers,
Todd Terry,
Aswad,
Negative Approach,
The Neon Judgement,
The Dirtbombs,
Intrusion,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
DNA, DNA, DNA, DNA.
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.