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 Cameroon and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 the Fania All-Stars to the crunk 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 the Normal. All the underground hits.
All Lee Hazlewood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Womack record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Clear Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bobby Byrd,
The Sound,
Judy Mowatt,
Gregory Isaacs,
Circle Jerks,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Amazonics,
Cecil Taylor,
Ken Boothe,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bizarre Inc.,
Crooked Eye,
The Pop Group,
Sonny Sharrock,
Whodini,
Tropical Tobacco,
a-ha,
Neu!,
Sandy B,
Terry Callier,
The Grass Roots,
Donny Hathaway,
China Crisis,
Pantaleimon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Arcadia,
The Fugs,
Fugazi,
Spandau Ballet,
Suicide,
Erykah Badu,
Ponytail,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ten City,
Godley & Creme,
Surgeon,
Crispy Ambulance,
Inner City,
The Gap Band,
The Leaves,
Rapeman,
Popol Vuh,
Slave,
Funkadelic,
Cheater Slicks,
Ohio Players,
Adolescents,
New Age Steppers,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Searchers,
ABC,
Kenny Larkin,
Youth Brigade,
Robert Görl,
Liliput,
Connie Case,
John Foxx,
Sarah Menescal,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.