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 Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Wire to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All The Fugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dark Day 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ten City record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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?
Soul II Soul,
The Blues Magoos,
Magma,
Bootsy Collins,
Alphaville,
Accadde A,
Theoretical Girls,
Warren Ellis,
Oneida,
Von Mondo,
Visage,
The Young Rascals,
Sixth Finger,
DJ Style,
Kayak,
Lou Reed,
The Dead C,
The Detroit Cobras,
Das Ding,
Ronan,
Ornette Coleman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minny Pops,
Ken Boothe,
Motorama,
B.T. Express,
Hot Snakes,
The American Breed,
Eric Dolphy,
Ossler,
Quando Quango,
Robert Wyatt,
Soft Machine,
Loose Ends,
Agent Orange,
Delon & Dalcan,
Swell Maps,
Con Funk Shun,
The Black Dice,
Harmonia,
The Kinks,
The Pretty Things,
Panda Bear,
The Knickerbockers,
Cluster,
The Star Department,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Tropical Tobacco,
Mr. Review,
New Order,
John Cale,
H. Thieme,
JFA,
T.S.O.L.,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mantronix,
Symarip,
KRS-One,
The Cowsills,
Aswad,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rites of Spring,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.