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 Romania and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Techniques to the punk 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 Sly & The Family Stone. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Livin' Joy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dirtbombs,
Crooked Eye,
Saccharine Trust,
Lee Hazlewood,
MC5,
Carl Craig,
The Modern Lovers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mission of Burma,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joy Division,
Supertramp,
The Stooges,
Iggy Pop,
Terry Callier,
Brass Construction,
Todd Rundgren,
Peter & Gordon,
Soul Sonic Force,
Don Cherry,
Radiohead,
X-101,
Boogie Down Productions,
Yellowson,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Leaves,
The Offenders,
Cheater Slicks,
The Grass Roots,
The Smoke,
Black Bananas,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Monks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
E-Dancer,
Television,
Stetsasonic,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Warren Ellis,
Desert Stars,
Eric B and Rakim,
ABC,
Darondo,
The Standells,
Aaron Thompson,
Lungfish,
Pagans,
Black Flag,
Heaven 17,
Echospace,
Hoover,
Model 500,
Curtis Mayfield,
La Düsseldorf,
Young Marble Giants,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.