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 Lebanon and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Toronto.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Jawbox to the jazz 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 Banda Bassotti. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
DJ Style,
Ultravox,
Joey Negro,
the Bar-Kays,
Half Japanese,
Blossom Toes,
Rites of Spring,
Boz Scaggs,
Ronan,
The Residents,
Crooked Eye,
Glenn Branca,
Arab on Radar,
Young Marble Giants,
Wally Richardson,
Guru Guru,
Rakim,
F. McDonald,
The Remains,
Sun City Girls,
The Sonics,
Morten Harket,
The Fire Engines,
The Angels of Light,
The Mojo Men,
Ronnie Foster,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Litter,
Barrington Levy,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Pharoah Sanders,
Man Parrish,
The Music Machine,
Thompson Twins,
Patti Smith,
The United States of America,
Scratch Acid,
Aswad,
Model 500,
R.M.O.,
Gang Starr,
The Sisters of Mercy,
the Sonics,
The Beau Brummels,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Jeru the Damaja,
Chrome,
Easy Going,
Peter & Gordon,
Little Man,
Prince Buster,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
In Retrospect,
Rhythm & Sound,
Yellowson,
Spoonie Gee,
the Fania All-Stars,
Frankie Knuckles,
Donny Hathaway,
The Count Five,
Nation of Ulysses,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.