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 Belarus and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Donny Hathaway to the grunge 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 Heavy D & The Boyz. All the underground hits.
All The Dave Clark Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Germs,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Quadrant,
Barrington Levy,
Yusef Lateef,
Stetsasonic,
Talk Talk,
The Move,
Guru Guru,
Camberwell Now,
Erasure,
Marvin Gaye,
The Vogues,
Jacob Miller,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Eddi Front,
Skaos,
Sun City Girls,
Nirvana,
Derrick May,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Black Bananas,
The Standells,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Thee Headcoats,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pole,
Schoolly D,
Q and Not U,
Anakelly,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Clear Light,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Kaleidoscope,
The Gladiators,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bang On A Can,
JFA,
Mark Hollis,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
These Immortal Souls,
Boogie Down Productions,
Josef K,
Jeff Lynne,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sex Pistols,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bush Tetras,
Visage,
James White and The Blacks,
EPMD,
KRS-One,
Y Pants,
The Evens,
Soft Machine,
Gang of Four,
Outsiders,
Technova,
Colin Newman,
Ludus,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.