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 Malta and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Mad Mike to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All Black Pus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pagans,
Ludus,
Lalo Schifrin,
Man Parrish,
Lungfish,
Brick,
The Fortunes,
Stiv Bators,
Jacob Miller,
Eric Copeland,
Dark Day,
The Trojans,
Excepter,
Joensuu 1685,
Marmalade,
The Walker Brothers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Danielle Patucci,
Audionom,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Wasted Youth,
Jesper Dahlback,
Spoonie Gee,
World's Most,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Real Kids,
Bang On A Can,
Isaac Hayes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Minor Threat,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
June Days,
Donny Hathaway,
Negative Approach,
Peter and Kerry,
John Lydon,
Cluster,
Flash Fearless,
Swell Maps,
One Last Wish,
Pere Ubu,
Susan Cadogan,
The Dead C,
The Mojo Men,
The Grass Roots,
Gong,
The Moody Blues,
The Velvet Underground,
Terry Callier,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sam Rivers,
the Soft Cell,
Juan Atkins,
Young Marble Giants,
This Heat,
Sandy B,
David Axelrod,
Thompson Twins,
Skaos,
Lou Christie,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.