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 Serbia and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
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 Inner City to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mo-Dettes 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 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Lydon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Black Flag,
The Leaves,
Audionom,
Ultimate Spinach,
Derrick May,
The Gap Band,
Joyce Sims,
ABBA,
H. Thieme,
Nas,
Peter & Gordon,
Blossom Toes,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Shuggie Otis,
Tomorrow,
Electric Prunes,
Radiohead,
Cameo,
Lightning Bolt,
The Tremeloes,
Vainqueur,
Symarip,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lyres,
Piero Umiliani,
Wings,
Parry Music,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ornette Coleman,
Urselle,
Japan,
Jeru the Damaja,
Blancmange,
The Raincoats,
The Victims,
The Vogues,
Joey Negro,
Hashim,
The Neon Judgement,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Idris Muhammad,
Hasil Adkins,
The Red Krayola,
Juan Atkins,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Human League,
Hardrive,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Essential Logic,
Robert Wyatt,
Quadrant,
Rapeman,
The Motions,
Rufus Thomas,
the Swans,
The Monochrome Set,
The Buckinghams,
The Moleskins,
Underground Resistance,
Brothers Johnson,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.