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 Cyprus and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the snare 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 Blake Baxter to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aaron Thompson,
Scratch Acid,
Sun City Girls,
Erykah Badu,
Lucky Dragons,
Prince Buster,
Maleditus Sound,
Royal Trux,
Slick Rick,
The Smiths,
Funkadelic,
The Five Americans,
The Slackers,
Hardrive,
Black Pus,
Judy Mowatt,
Scan 7,
D'Angelo,
Swans,
Mandrill,
Pere Ubu,
Stetsasonic,
Mr. Review,
Rod Modell,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Anthony Braxton,
The Motions,
Cymande,
The Electric Prunes,
Joyce Sims,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sugar Minott,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Brick,
Depeche Mode,
Dorothy Ashby,
Supertramp,
Jeff Mills,
The Move,
Soulsonic Force,
The Blackbyrds,
The Index,
10cc,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
PIL,
The Grass Roots,
The Fire Engines,
Chrome,
Sonic Youth,
T. Rex,
The Leaves,
Lou Christie,
Sandy B,
Angry Samoans,
Eden Ahbez,
Scion,
Fela Kuti,
The Searchers,
Saccharine Trust,
The Slits,
Gang Starr,
Flash Fearless,
Drexciya,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.