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 Taiwan and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Bad Manners to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))). All the underground hits.
All Vainqueur tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
Stereo Dub,
Ken Boothe,
Jandek,
the Sonics,
the Swans,
Wally Richardson,
Donny Hathaway,
Godley & Creme,
Basic Channel,
Fluxion,
Scan 7,
Sister Nancy,
The Invisible,
Lebanon Hanover,
Crispian St. Peters,
Minutemen,
Tom Boy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Youth Brigade,
Faust,
James White and The Blacks,
Reagan Youth,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Aswad,
Rotary Connection,
The J.B.'s,
The Monochrome Set,
Quando Quango,
Amon Düül,
Country Teasers,
Unrelated Segments,
Harry Pussy,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Blake Baxter,
In Retrospect,
Organ,
Cybotron,
The Moleskins,
Royal Trux,
ABC,
Pantaleimon,
Deepchord,
Pole,
The Kinks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Sight & Sound,
Livin' Joy,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
D'Angelo,
The Blues Magoos,
The Fall,
Bush Tetras,
The Fugs,
Groovy Waters,
Archie Shepp,
Tropical Tobacco,
Terry Callier,
Panda Bear,
One Last Wish,
Alton Ellis,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.