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 Kuwait and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Piero Umiliani to the grime 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 The Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Toni Rubio 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
The Birthday Party,
Ralphi Rosario,
Anthony Braxton,
Guru Guru,
The Mummies,
Cameo,
Smog,
Ronnie Foster,
Rapeman,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Banda Bassotti,
Accadde A,
Pylon,
The Searchers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
John Holt,
The Young Rascals,
Icehouse,
The Dead C,
Roxette,
Davy DMX,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bootsy Collins,
Crime,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Bananas,
Stiv Bators,
The Vogues,
Crispian St. Peters,
Drive Like Jehu,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Patti Smith,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Velvet Underground,
Joey Negro,
The Standells,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Japan,
The Fire Engines,
Wire,
Jandek,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Intrusion,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Kerri Chandler,
The Human League,
Jerry's Kids,
These Immortal Souls,
ABC,
Lower 48,
Inner City,
Brick,
Flamin' Groovies,
Adolescents,
The Tremeloes,
Massinfluence,
Aswad,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.