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 Uzbekistan and from Seoul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 China Crisis to the techno 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 Minutemen. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Judy Mowatt 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Amon Düül II,
R.M.O.,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bush Tetras,
X-102,
Aswad,
Joe Smooth,
Lyres,
The Trojans,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Detroit Cobras,
Von Mondo,
Scan 7,
Oneida,
Lucky Dragons,
a-ha,
Tubeway Army,
Essential Logic,
The Dirtbombs,
Anakelly,
Sun Ra,
Motorama,
The Doors,
Aural Exciters,
Outsiders,
Joyce Sims,
Ice-T,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Pop Group,
X-Ray Spex,
Archie Shepp,
June of 44,
The Flesh Eaters,
Au Pairs,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Nik Kershaw,
Lee Hazlewood,
the Slits,
Niagra,
Hoover,
The Martian,
Silicon Teens,
Dennis Brown,
Harmonia,
Pantaleimon,
Agitation Free,
The Fuzztones,
Country Teasers,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
KRS-One,
Livin' Joy,
Little Man,
The Cramps,
Smog,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bootsy Collins,
The Last Poets,
Bang On A Can,
Colin Newman,
Sound Behaviour,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.