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 Kenya and from Johannesburg.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx 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 The Standells. All the underground hits.
All Louis and Bebe Barron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ossler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Pharoah Sanders,
Monks,
The Human League,
The New Christs,
The Trojans,
Grey Daturas,
Shuggie Otis,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Mighty Diamonds,
R.M.O.,
Joy Division,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rites of Spring,
Sarah Menescal,
Sam Rivers,
Zapp,
Echospace,
Todd Terry,
Lightning Bolt,
the Association,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Dead Boys,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Unwound,
Brass Construction,
Sun Ra,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bronski Beat,
Gang of Four,
the Slits,
Metal Thangz,
Judy Mowatt,
In Retrospect,
Electric Prunes,
Kurtis Blow,
Erasure,
Scott Walker,
Ten City,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Theoretical Girls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kayak,
Drive Like Jehu,
Tim Buckley,
Donald Byrd,
Tropical Tobacco,
Letta Mbulu,
Wally Richardson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Cramps,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
New Order,
Second Layer,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pere Ubu,
Moss Icon,
Slave,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.
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.