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 Tuvalu and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lille.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe 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 X-Ray Spex to the grime 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 The Monochrome Set. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
Charles Mingus,
Anthony Braxton,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Grass Roots,
Danielle Patucci,
Kas Product,
Arthur Verocai,
John Holt,
Zero Boys,
Nick Fraelich,
Idris Muhammad,
Blossom Toes,
The Count Five,
Inner City,
Sonny Sharrock,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Goldenarms,
One Last Wish,
Moby Grape,
Excepter,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fall,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Depeche Mode,
Bizarre Inc.,
Throbbing Gristle,
Soft Machine,
Rites of Spring,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Y Pants,
Leonard Cohen,
the Soft Cell,
Icehouse,
Wings,
Tim Buckley,
The Toasters,
Beasts of Bourbon,
John Coltrane,
Prince Buster,
Basic Channel,
Sex Pistols,
Thompson Twins,
Camouflage,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sällskapet,
Tubeway Army,
Theoretical Girls,
Roy Ayers,
Roger Hodgson,
New Age Steppers,
Lower 48,
Con Funk Shun,
The Dead C,
Jawbox,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sister Nancy,
The Slackers,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.