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 Maldives and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Trojans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wire 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 an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pagans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Marmalade,
Dawn Penn,
John Cale,
Amazonics,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Cymande,
Fugazi,
Electric Light Orchestra,
the Slits,
The Barracudas,
Mad Mike,
Pantaleimon,
Wasted Youth,
The Human League,
Harmonia,
Fatback Band,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Roy Ayers,
Barrington Levy,
OOIOO,
Arthur Verocai,
Kaleidoscope,
Urselle,
Jacques Brel,
The Names,
The Tremeloes,
Ultravox,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Leaves,
DJ Sneak,
The Litter,
The Slits,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Young Rascals,
MC5,
a-ha,
the Bar-Kays,
Rod Modell,
The Beau Brummels,
Joe Smooth,
Khruangbin,
Dennis Brown,
Prince Buster,
EPMD,
Buzzcocks,
Crooked Eye,
The Selecter,
Lungfish,
Arab on Radar,
Jimmy McGriff,
Los Fastidios,
Warsaw,
Negative Approach,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Das Ding,
Minutemen,
Porter Ricks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Josef K,
The American Breed,
Rapeman,
Suburban Knight,
Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound.
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.