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 Tonga and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Heaven 17 to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Anthony Braxton. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bill Wells,
Niagra,
Trumans Water,
Boredoms,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
New Age Steppers,
The Gun Club,
Adolescents,
The Sonics,
The Standells,
Mantronix,
Scion,
Bluetip,
Piero Umiliani,
Alton Ellis,
Roy Ayers,
Nas,
Lakeside,
Visage,
Matthew Halsall,
Drive Like Jehu,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lou Reed,
Crime,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Cure,
The Techniques,
The Index,
Gang Starr,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Soul II Soul,
R.M.O.,
Rites of Spring,
The Slits,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Matthew Bourne,
The Trojans,
Delta 5,
John Foxx,
Albert Ayler,
the Slits,
Rapeman,
Curtis Mayfield,
Frankie Knuckles,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Charles Mingus,
The Monochrome Set,
Robert Wyatt,
Cecil Taylor,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tim Buckley,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eurythmics,
Au Pairs,
PIL,
Lindisfarne,
The Detroit Cobras,
Parry Music,
Hoover,
cv313, cv313, cv313, cv313.
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.