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 Gabon and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Reuben Wilson to the funk 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 Index. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Aural Exciters,
David McCallum,
The J.B.'s,
Fluxion,
Sun Ra,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Dennis Brown,
Jimmy McGriff,
Todd Terry,
Tears for Fears,
Main Source,
The Cure,
Arab on Radar,
Blake Baxter,
Bill Near,
Erykah Badu,
Jeff Lynne,
The Barracudas,
The Seeds,
Lyres,
Alice Coltrane,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Cameo,
Sound Behaviour,
Gregory Isaacs,
JFA,
Archie Shepp,
Eden Ahbez,
The Misunderstood,
T.S.O.L.,
Royal Trux,
Johnny Osbourne,
Harmonia,
Gichy Dan,
Eric Copeland,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Deakin,
Black Sheep,
Lucky Dragons,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Knickerbockers,
The Happenings,
Joy Division,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
R.M.O.,
Grey Daturas,
Ronnie Foster,
Tommy Roe,
Scion,
Young Marble Giants,
Rufus Thomas,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sandy B,
Nik Kershaw,
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.