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 Zimbabwe and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe 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 Patti Smith to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pere Ubu. All the underground hits.
All Selector Dub Narcotic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The New Christs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minor Threat,
Roxette,
Tres Demented,
Absolute Body Control,
Juan Atkins,
Funky Four + One,
Shoche,
Angry Samoans,
Lou Christie,
Moebius,
Delta 5,
Fela Kuti,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Y Pants,
Eric Dolphy,
Matthew Halsall,
Roxy Music,
The Angels of Light,
The Last Poets,
Rosa Yemen,
Marvin Gaye,
Lou Reed,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gong,
In Retrospect,
Das Ding,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Wire,
Anthony Braxton,
The Alarm Clocks,
Flipper,
Brand Nubian,
the Normal,
Sam Rivers,
Ken Boothe,
Kerri Chandler,
Chrome,
The Gun Club,
Blancmange,
Barbara Tucker,
Oneida,
Kaleidoscope,
Basic Channel,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Mad Mike,
The Star Department,
MDC,
Crooked Eye,
Motorama,
Skriet,
Simply Red,
The Grass Roots,
Kas Product,
The Slackers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Minny Pops,
Lalo Schifrin,
Little Man,
ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC.
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.