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 Uruguay and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Fuzztones to the rock 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fortunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
David Axelrod,
Sällskapet,
China Crisis,
The Smoke,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Traffic Nightmare,
John Cale,
June of 44,
Monks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Half Japanese,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Searchers,
FM Einheit,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Blackbyrds,
Kurtis Blow,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Erykah Badu,
Metal Thangz,
Grandmaster Flash,
UT,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Swans,
Negative Approach,
Joe Finger,
Gong,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Raincoats,
Unrelated Segments,
Robert Wyatt,
Anthony Braxton,
Accadde A,
Dual Sessions,
The Real Kids,
New Order,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Maleditus Sound,
Marine Girls,
Eden Ahbez,
Suicide,
Shoche,
Leonard Cohen,
The Red Krayola,
Cybotron,
Marvin Gaye,
Bluetip,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bobby Womack,
Hashim,
Spoonie Gee,
Ash Ra Tempel,
L. Decosne,
Freddie Wadling,
Scientists,
Radio Birdman,
Gang of Four,
Siglo XX,
Livin' Joy,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.