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 Guinea-Bissau and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Barry Ungar to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Guru Guru. All the underground hits.
All Dark Day tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gladiators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-101 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cramps,
Hardrive,
Ituana,
Grauzone,
The Young Rascals,
T.S.O.L.,
Yusef Lateef,
The Real Kids,
Erasure,
Arab on Radar,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Todd Rundgren,
Suburban Knight,
Monks,
Idris Muhammad,
Don Cherry,
Eric Copeland,
Bang On A Can,
Groovy Waters,
The Modern Lovers,
Deadbeat,
The Fugs,
Matthew Halsall,
Lee Hazlewood,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Buckinghams,
EPMD,
The Wake,
Amon Düül II,
Chris Corsano,
OOIOO,
Roxy Music,
Aloha Tigers,
Visage,
Infiniti,
Unrelated Segments,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sun Ra,
Scan 7,
Kevin Saunderson,
JFA,
Reuben Wilson,
Shuggie Otis,
Alice Coltrane,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Five Americans,
Joe Smooth,
Jerry's Kids,
The Fuzztones,
Ornette Coleman,
Boredoms,
R.M.O.,
Procol Harum,
Juan Atkins,
Derrick Morgan,
Nirvana,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Michelle Simonal,
Half Japanese,
Dennis Brown,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.