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 Andorra and from Madrid.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Delhi.
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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Aswad to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Con Funk Shun 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Modern Lovers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Beau Brummels,
Zapp,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Motions,
Fatback Band,
Skaos,
The Star Department,
Rites of Spring,
Swans,
T.S.O.L.,
Delta 5,
The Golliwogs,
Donny Hathaway,
Siglo XX,
The Dave Clark Five,
Robert Wyatt,
The Remains,
H. Thieme,
The Pop Group,
Intrusion,
Oblivians,
Chrome,
Tim Buckley,
Marine Girls,
Chris & Cosey,
Silicon Teens,
Blossom Toes,
The Black Dice,
Bush Tetras,
Laurel Aitken,
Massinfluence,
The Leaves,
Althea and Donna,
Lindisfarne,
The Slackers,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Association,
Sonic Youth,
OOIOO,
The Sound,
Scott Walker,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lyres,
Ash Ra Tempel,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Whodini,
The Real Kids,
Icehouse,
Marvin Gaye,
Terry Callier,
The Cramps,
The Modern Lovers,
Prince Buster,
Al Stewart,
The Wake,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ice-T,
New York Dolls,
Gichy Dan,
Sparks,
The Last Poets,
Glenn Branca,
The Litter,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.