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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Tremeloes to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sonny Sharrock. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Rotary Connection,
The Last Poets,
Yusef Lateef,
Anthony Braxton,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Black Sheep,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Buzzcocks,
Lebanon Hanover,
Funkadelic,
Siglo XX,
Oblivians,
The Residents,
Rod Modell,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Agent Orange,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Flash Fearless,
Ossler,
Pere Ubu,
Avey Tare,
Section 25,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Roy Ayers,
Kurtis Blow,
The Dave Clark Five,
Tubeway Army,
Von Mondo,
Make Up,
Scientists,
Nils Olav,
Lungfish,
The Index,
Kerri Chandler,
Ponytail,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Saints,
Bad Manners,
Reagan Youth,
Chris Corsano,
Aloha Tigers,
New Age Steppers,
The Divine Comedy,
The Beau Brummels,
Fugazi,
Funky Four + One,
Mars,
Kayak,
The Mojo Men,
Boogie Down Productions,
Grey Daturas,
The Cure,
Eric Dolphy,
Swell Maps,
One Last Wish,
Skriet,
The Leaves,
Donald Byrd,
Brass Construction,
Oneida,
Massinfluence,
David McCallum,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.