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 New Zealand and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Funky Four + One to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Brand Nubian,
Kerrie Biddell,
Pere Ubu,
Lightning Bolt,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
John Coltrane,
Desert Stars,
Glambeats Corp.,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Donald Byrd,
The Index,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sarah Menescal,
Yusef Lateef,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Flash Fearless,
The Modern Lovers,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Litter,
The Smoke,
Moby Grape,
Graham Central Station,
Yellowson,
Pulsallama,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Monochrome Set,
Barbara Tucker,
The Evens,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Vogues,
The Last Poets,
New York Dolls,
Rapeman,
Spoonie Gee,
Marc Almond,
Peter and Kerry,
Index,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Stooges,
Gang Gang Dance,
Fatback Band,
Liliput,
Unwound,
Public Image Ltd.,
One Last Wish,
Jeru the Damaja,
Jeff Mills,
The Moody Blues,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ultravox,
FM Einheit,
Morten Harket,
EPMD,
Q and Not U,
Alphaville,
D'Angelo,
Suburban Knight,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Young Marble Giants,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.