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 Israel and from Taipei.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 808 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 Roy Ayers to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All L. Decosne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Godley & Creme,
Fela Kuti,
Make Up,
Kenny Larkin,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Stooges,
Harmonia,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Rapeman,
Aural Exciters,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Can,
Pere Ubu,
The Fugs,
Schoolly D,
CMW,
Blake Baxter,
Moby Grape,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Deakin,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Marvin Gaye,
Lalann,
The Detroit Cobras,
Arab on Radar,
H. Thieme,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Fall,
Rekid,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nils Olav,
Mandrill,
the Fania All-Stars,
ABC,
Eve St. Jones,
Don Cherry,
Yusef Lateef,
Danielle Patucci,
The Monochrome Set,
Scott Walker,
L. Decosne,
The Blackbyrds,
the Slits,
Barry Ungar,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Basic Channel,
Ituana,
Eli Mardock,
The Kinks,
Crooked Eye,
Erykah Badu,
Chrome,
Radiopuhelimet,
Stockholm Monsters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Josef K,
Country Teasers,
Absolute Body Control,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.