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 El Salvador and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Young Marble Giants to the jazz 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 Liliput. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Invisible record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hasil Adkins,
Television Personalities,
Oblivians,
Amon Düül II,
Inner City,
Bang On A Can,
Connie Case,
Brick,
Fatback Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Cure,
Gong,
L. Decosne,
Can,
The Gap Band,
Y Pants,
Fela Kuti,
Scientists,
Carl Craig,
The Fire Engines,
Donny Hathaway,
Shuggie Otis,
Eli Mardock,
The Sonics,
David Bowie,
Brothers Johnson,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Cale,
Flipper,
Slave,
The Trojans,
Boogie Down Productions,
Crash Course in Science,
Scrapy,
The Gories,
Sällskapet,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Letta Mbulu,
The Offenders,
The Cosmic Jokers,
La Düsseldorf,
Delta 5,
Icehouse,
Minnie Riperton,
The Five Americans,
Parry Music,
The Invisible,
Sandy B,
Scion,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Radiohead,
Young Marble Giants,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cybotron,
Jacob Miller,
The Selecter,
Jandek,
The Martian,
Severed Heads,
Ornette Coleman,
Flamin' Groovies,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.