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 Turkmenistan and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Terry Callier 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 The Associates. All the underground hits.
All Gary Puckett & The Union Gap tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minor Threat 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mission of Burma record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angry Samoans,
Eli Mardock,
Royal Trux,
The Last Poets,
Oblivians,
Dennis Brown,
Average White Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nils Olav,
Ultimate Spinach,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
48th St. Collective,
Funkadelic,
The Music Machine,
Gang Green,
Sight & Sound,
Wasted Youth,
Blake Baxter,
Agent Orange,
Boredoms,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Black Dice,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Inner City,
The Neon Judgement,
New York Dolls,
Lakeside,
Warren Ellis,
Bizarre Inc.,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Monochrome Set,
Cybotron,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Cheater Slicks,
Barbara Tucker,
Urselle,
The Selecter,
The Pretty Things,
Roy Ayers,
Janne Schatter,
Unwound,
Skaos,
Delta 5,
Tommy Roe,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Vladislav Delay,
Groovy Waters,
Ossler,
KRS-One,
Black Bananas,
The Electric Prunes,
Ralphi Rosario,
Depeche Mode,
Dual Sessions,
Q and Not U,
Tears for Fears,
Harmonia,
MC5,
The Standells,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.