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 Ivory Coast and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Jesus and Mary Chain to the punk 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters 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 synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Victims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Franke,
Cecil Taylor,
The Standells,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
A Certain Ratio,
Au Pairs,
LL Cool J,
The Blackbyrds,
Wolf Eyes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Idris Muhammad,
Cymande,
Inner City,
The Barracudas,
Aural Exciters,
Mr. Review,
The Mojo Men,
Colin Newman,
Bauhaus,
Soul II Soul,
In Retrospect,
Fatback Band,
Arthur Verocai,
Shoche,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Matthew Halsall,
Eden Ahbez,
DJ Sneak,
The Trojans,
Marmalade,
Patti Smith,
Nation of Ulysses,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Procol Harum,
Pagans,
Public Enemy,
Hardrive,
Prince Buster,
Barry Ungar,
Porter Ricks,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Mars,
The Doobie Brothers,
Todd Rundgren,
Rites of Spring,
Leonard Cohen,
Accadde A,
Bang On A Can,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Evens,
Eve St. Jones,
Ice-T,
John Lydon,
Unrelated Segments,
Crooked Eye,
Gerry Rafferty,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Monochrome Set,
a-ha,
Juan Atkins,
Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence.
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.