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 South Sudan and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Qualms to the grime 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T. Rex,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
James White and The Blacks,
Fugazi,
Henry Cow,
the Normal,
Barry Ungar,
Parry Music,
Malaria!,
Tomorrow,
Grey Daturas,
Charles Mingus,
Rotary Connection,
E-Dancer,
La Düsseldorf,
Sun Ra,
Eric B and Rakim,
Alice Coltrane,
the Fania All-Stars,
L. Decosne,
Amazonics,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Fugs,
The Cramps,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Saccharine Trust,
Basic Channel,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Erykah Badu,
The Mummies,
Sound Behaviour,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Black Flag,
Harpers Bizarre,
Mo-Dettes,
Magazine,
Desert Stars,
Gang Green,
Smog,
the Human League,
Panda Bear,
Bang On A Can,
Yellowson,
The Move,
John Cale,
MDC,
Moebius,
Y Pants,
The Seeds,
Joyce Sims,
Los Fastidios,
Gang Gang Dance,
Andrew Hill,
Jeff Lynne,
Black Bananas,
Bad Manners,
The Dead C,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Blossom Toes,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pere Ubu,
Roy Ayers,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses.
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.