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 Cape Verde and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Brand Nubian to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
The Toasters,
Nico,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Circle Jerks,
Talk Talk,
Wolf Eyes,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scion,
Boogie Down Productions,
Scratch Acid,
Dorothy Ashby,
Q65,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Cluster,
Tom Boy,
Amon Düül II,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Second Layer,
Wire,
Yusef Lateef,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Doors,
Crime,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ornette Coleman,
Underground Resistance,
Archie Shepp,
Ken Boothe,
Black Flag,
Pagans,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sugar Minott,
The Beau Brummels,
Barry Ungar,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Associates,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lou Reed,
Althea and Donna,
Joey Negro,
The Happenings,
The Saints,
Young Marble Giants,
The Grass Roots,
Reagan Youth,
Roger Hodgson,
Erykah Badu,
Fatback Band,
Fela Kuti,
Harry Pussy,
Whodini,
The Five Americans,
Scrapy,
Crispy Ambulance,
In Retrospect,
Laurel Aitken,
Surgeon,
Deakin,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Livin' Joy,
Mission of Burma,
The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins.
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.