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 Bhutan and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 güiro 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the dance 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 Reagan Youth. All the underground hits.
All Subhumans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eve St. Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Hill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alice Coltrane,
Agent Orange,
Archie Shepp,
Trumans Water,
Thompson Twins,
Roxy Music,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Arthur Verocai,
The American Breed,
Lou Reed,
Schoolly D,
Bronski Beat,
Mo-Dettes,
Los Fastidios,
Minor Threat,
Black Bananas,
Lungfish,
Accadde A,
Rotary Connection,
Delta 5,
Marine Girls,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
kango's stein massive,
Altered Images,
Wire,
In Retrospect,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Nik Kershaw,
Guru Guru,
Absolute Body Control,
Howard Jones,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kevin Saunderson,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fatback Band,
The Divine Comedy,
Gil Scott Heron,
Whodini,
Basic Channel,
H. Thieme,
Zero Boys,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Marvin Gaye,
the Normal,
Radiohead,
Procol Harum,
the Bar-Kays,
The Fuzztones,
Deakin,
World's Most,
MDC,
8 Eyed Spy,
Stiv Bators,
The Mojo Men,
PIL,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.