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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the 808 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 Don Cherry to the funk 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. All the underground hits.
All Glenn Branca tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sisters of Mercy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Infiniti,
Camouflage,
Masters at Work,
Bluetip,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
the Germs,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Flipper,
Excepter,
Mark Hollis,
Kaleidoscope,
Gong,
KRS-One,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Grey Daturas,
The Remains,
Scion,
The Gun Club,
Fela Kuti,
Funky Four + One,
Pole,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Litter,
Eurythmics,
The Slits,
Ohio Players,
Barry Ungar,
Nirvana,
The Busters,
Radiopuhelimet,
Joey Negro,
Ronnie Foster,
Unrelated Segments,
8 Eyed Spy,
Faust,
Radio Birdman,
The Divine Comedy,
The Fugs,
The Kinks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Boz Scaggs,
Babytalk,
Arthur Verocai,
Monolake,
Essential Logic,
Alphaville,
Cecil Taylor,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roxette,
Kerrie Biddell,
Depeche Mode,
Patti Smith,
The Beau Brummels,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Fatback Band,
Bobby Byrd,
Warsaw,
The Leaves,
The Residents,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.