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 Spain and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 oboe 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 Groovy Waters to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
the Human League,
Grauzone,
Animal Collective,
Yusef Lateef,
Al Stewart,
Drexciya,
Lakeside,
Reagan Youth,
Moebius,
Supertramp,
Byron Stingily,
Kayak,
Soft Machine,
Malaria!,
Eurythmics,
Guru Guru,
Archie Shepp,
Barbara Tucker,
DJ Style,
The Stooges,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Harry Pussy,
Monks,
Goldenarms,
Pierre Henry,
Jandek,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Residents,
Trumans Water,
Dave Gahan,
X-Ray Spex,
ABC,
Amazonics,
Pantaleimon,
Newcleus,
Deadbeat,
Infiniti,
U.S. Maple,
Fatback Band,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Roxette,
The Detroit Cobras,
Max Romeo,
Sun City Girls,
Negative Approach,
The Cramps,
Au Pairs,
Little Man,
Television Personalities,
Robert Wyatt,
Kurtis Blow,
Maleditus Sound,
Sex Pistols,
Cal Tjader,
Joyce Sims,
Dennis Brown,
Sound Behaviour,
Hasil Adkins,
Harmonia,
Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag.
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.