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 France and from New York.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Curtis Mayfield to the techno 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 Kayak. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
PIL,
Brass Construction,
Little Man,
Siglo XX,
Organ,
The Names,
Todd Rundgren,
Reuben Wilson,
Agitation Free,
Ultra Naté,
In Retrospect,
World's Most,
Lalann,
The Skatalites,
Bobby Byrd,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Bar-Kays,
Flamin' Groovies,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Pretty Things,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Albert Ayler,
MDC,
Accadde A,
Ken Boothe,
The Mighty Diamonds,
John Coltrane,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Martian,
Gregory Isaacs,
Eli Mardock,
Stiv Bators,
Black Flag,
Brothers Johnson,
Alton Ellis,
Sun Ra,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Nas,
Johnny Osbourne,
Fluxion,
Neil Young,
Depeche Mode,
Jacques Brel,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Young Rascals,
Alice Coltrane,
Radiohead,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Todd Terry,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bob Dylan,
Skaos,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ronan,
Wolf Eyes,
the Human League,
Godley & Creme,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Tres Demented,
Desert Stars,
Altered Images,
Index,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.