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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Edmonton.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 guitar 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sly & The Family Stone. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rapeman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Section 25,
PIL,
Bush Tetras,
The Young Rascals,
Gang of Four,
The Leaves,
London Community Gospel Choir,
World's Most,
Kenny Larkin,
Wings,
Black Sheep,
Black Flag,
Blake Baxter,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scion,
Pierre Henry,
Iggy Pop,
Ornette Coleman,
the Slits,
The Remains,
Unwound,
Carl Craig,
The Detroit Cobras,
Boogie Down Productions,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Barrington Levy,
Zapp,
The Moody Blues,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
JFA,
Nick Fraelich,
The Mojo Men,
Camberwell Now,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Fall,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bang On A Can,
Janne Schatter,
Fatback Band,
Slave,
FM Einheit,
The Dave Clark Five,
June Days,
The Walker Brothers,
Essential Logic,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Knickerbockers,
Scrapy,
Dorothy Ashby,
The United States of America,
The Doobie Brothers,
John Coltrane,
Nik Kershaw,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Associates,
Lindisfarne,
Leonard Cohen,
Bobby Womack,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Terry Callier,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.