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 Rwanda and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 Hong Kong and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the theremin 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 Alison Limerick to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deakin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Piero Umiliani,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Joy Division,
Pole,
Joe Finger,
Faust,
Fela Kuti,
Rhythm & Sound,
Archie Shepp,
Public Enemy,
Shuggie Otis,
Newcleus,
Ultravox,
Joyce Sims,
Blossom Toes,
Talk Talk,
Make Up,
Gong,
DJ Sneak,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Nas,
Sex Pistols,
John Holt,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
June of 44,
Hardrive,
Erasure,
Guru Guru,
Tears for Fears,
Main Source,
Alison Limerick,
Don Cherry,
D'Angelo,
Organ,
Rod Modell,
the Slits,
Anthony Braxton,
Blake Baxter,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Minnie Riperton,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Tubeway Army,
Amon Düül,
Matthew Halsall,
The Cramps,
MC5,
Dennis Brown,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kurtis Blow,
The Cowsills,
Ronan,
H. Thieme,
Bill Near,
Lyres,
La Düsseldorf,
Aloha Tigers,
The Durutti Column,
Whodini,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.