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 Senegal and from Edmonton.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Television to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Public Enemy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sparks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
UT,
Subhumans,
The Raincoats,
John Coltrane,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Hoover,
Scott Walker,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lee Hazlewood,
Fugazi,
Neil Young,
Crime,
D'Angelo,
Symarip,
Roxy Music,
June of 44,
Joe Smooth,
A Certain Ratio,
Slave,
Sun City Girls,
Albert Ayler,
Masters at Work,
Iggy Pop,
Pussy Galore,
The Seeds,
Second Layer,
Main Source,
Delta 5,
Grauzone,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Barbara Tucker,
Simply Red,
DJ Sneak,
Andrew Hill,
Ice-T,
Q65,
Roger Hodgson,
Ultra Naté,
Organ,
The Knickerbockers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Half Japanese,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Minnie Riperton,
ABC,
Lucky Dragons,
Outsiders,
FM Einheit,
Nils Olav,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Associates,
Minny Pops,
Graham Central Station,
Adolescents,
The New Christs,
Michelle Simonal,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.