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 Spain and from Jakarta.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Five Americans to the disco 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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Henry Cow 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Flesh Eaters,
Arab on Radar,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bill Wells,
ABBA,
Khruangbin,
Warren Ellis,
Crispy Ambulance,
Don Cherry,
Peter & Gordon,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Livin' Joy,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pylon,
Grauzone,
Slave,
The Red Krayola,
Make Up,
Jandek,
Fear,
The Dirtbombs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Scion,
Stereo Dub,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Music Machine,
Scratch Acid,
Sandy B,
Junior Murvin,
The Pretty Things,
Quando Quango,
Mandrill,
Pantytec,
Aloha Tigers,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kerri Chandler,
Boz Scaggs,
Vainqueur,
Interpol,
Cheater Slicks,
Ossler,
Flipper,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eli Mardock,
Rosa Yemen,
The Toasters,
Throbbing Gristle,
Accadde A,
Severed Heads,
Gang Starr,
Negative Approach,
Mary Jane Girls,
Half Japanese,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.