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 Swaziland and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the sitar 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 Traffic Nightmare to the grime 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 Matthew Halsall. All the underground hits.
All The Seeds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
The Slackers,
Television,
The Busters,
Negative Approach,
Girls At Our Best!,
Albert Ayler,
The Gap Band,
Rekid,
Rufus Thomas,
Kas Product,
Junior Murvin,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Carl Craig,
PIL,
The Litter,
Second Layer,
Metal Thangz,
Ohio Players,
Bobby Byrd,
Joey Negro,
The Fall,
Gastr Del Sol,
Glenn Branca,
Bootsy Collins,
The Buckinghams,
the Normal,
Pagans,
The Raincoats,
Kayak,
Desert Stars,
Janne Schatter,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Last Poets,
The Skatalites,
Hot Snakes,
Dual Sessions,
the Sonics,
The American Breed,
The Names,
Pussy Galore,
Hardrive,
Masters at Work,
Marine Girls,
Stereo Dub,
The Golliwogs,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Fuzztones,
The Offenders,
Cluster,
Pere Ubu,
Section 25,
Traffic Nightmare,
Technova,
Yellowson,
Soulsonic Force,
Jerry's Kids,
The Walker Brothers,
Popol Vuh,
The Residents,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.