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 Sri Lanka and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Rekid to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Monks. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Section 25 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Bobby Womack,
Quadrant,
The Leaves,
the Soft Cell,
Depeche Mode,
Sugar Minott,
Colin Newman,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lakeside,
Rites of Spring,
Sonny Sharrock,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Arcadia,
The Real Kids,
Gang of Four,
The Human League,
Procol Harum,
Scion,
Mark Hollis,
the Normal,
Boz Scaggs,
Sexual Harrassment,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Birthday Party,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Massinfluence,
Surgeon,
Erasure,
Vladislav Delay,
The Tremeloes,
Bush Tetras,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Shuggie Otis,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Fortunes,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Doobie Brothers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Bobby Byrd,
Motorama,
Pharoah Sanders,
Yusef Lateef,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Black Dice,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Soul Sonic Force,
David Axelrod,
Leonard Cohen,
Barbara Tucker,
The United States of America,
The Mummies,
Marc Almond,
The Happenings,
Harry Pussy,
Lyres,
Thompson Twins,
The Sonics,
The Monochrome Set,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.