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 Sweden and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Brand Nubian to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blues Magoos 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 rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gichy Dan,
Pet Shop Boys,
Brand Nubian,
Nick Fraelich,
the Fania All-Stars,
Dawn Penn,
Throbbing Gristle,
Donny Hathaway,
Ultra Naté,
The Selecter,
Lindisfarne,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Camberwell Now,
A Certain Ratio,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Alice Coltrane,
Wire,
Porter Ricks,
Rod Modell,
Roxette,
Joe Smooth,
The Toasters,
10cc,
Lightning Bolt,
Agent Orange,
Skarface,
The Monochrome Set,
The Real Kids,
X-Ray Spex,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Cecil Taylor,
Jandek,
Sarah Menescal,
Erykah Badu,
Goldenarms,
Von Mondo,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Cramps,
Neu!,
Joey Negro,
Barrington Levy,
Niagra,
David Axelrod,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Black Bananas,
The Human League,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cameo,
Marc Almond,
The Barracudas,
Urselle,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ten City,
Dorothy Ashby,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Connie Case,
The Kinks,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Happenings,
Colin Newman,
Bizarre Inc.,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.