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 Guinea-Bissau and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lille.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sonny Sharrock to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Misunderstood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Evens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Rekid,
Audionom,
10cc,
Drexciya,
F. McDonald,
Jawbox,
Hoover,
Gregory Isaacs,
Scrapy,
The Zeros,
Lou Reed,
Charles Mingus,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Average White Band,
Television Personalities,
Sugar Minott,
Barbara Tucker,
Country Teasers,
Bronski Beat,
Excepter,
Royal Trux,
The Dirtbombs,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Fuzztones,
The Techniques,
The Grass Roots,
Fatback Band,
L. Decosne,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Todd Rundgren,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Divine Comedy,
Josef K,
Gang Starr,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kenny Larkin,
Fad Gadget,
Spandau Ballet,
Zapp,
Gil Scott Heron,
Marshall Jefferson,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Fat Boys,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ludus,
the Soft Cell,
Skaos,
Joe Smooth,
Boredoms,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Half Japanese,
Au Pairs,
Brick,
The Five Americans,
the Association,
Marvin Gaye,
Bauhaus,
Talk Talk,
Flamin' Groovies,
Idris Muhammad,
Q and Not U,
Essential Logic,
Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster.
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.