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 Andorra and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sunsets and Hearts to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All MC5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Mars,
The Doors,
Soul Sonic Force,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Fugs,
JFA,
Byron Stingily,
The Buckinghams,
Reagan Youth,
World's Most,
Andrew Hill,
AZ,
Mantronix,
Glenn Branca,
The Invisible,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alphaville,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Wally Richardson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
the Sonics,
The Gories,
Harmonia,
Grauzone,
Loose Ends,
Television,
David Axelrod,
Rekid,
T. Rex,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Fad Gadget,
the Normal,
K-Klass,
Patti Smith,
Sexual Harrassment,
Nico,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Names,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Connie Case,
Lungfish,
Bootsy Collins,
U.S. Maple,
The Searchers,
Groovy Waters,
Idris Muhammad,
Gang Green,
Sällskapet,
A Certain Ratio,
Q65,
Unrelated Segments,
Electric Light Orchestra,
X-102,
Bill Near,
Parry Music,
Joyce Sims,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Deakin,
Sun Ra,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.