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 Kenya and from Philadelphia.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Toronto.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the organ 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Janne Schatter,
the Swans,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Neu!,
The Fall,
Lindisfarne,
The Zeros,
Sight & Sound,
Bang On A Can,
Iggy Pop,
T. Rex,
Soul II Soul,
Dual Sessions,
Gerry Rafferty,
Accadde A,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Harmonia,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Joyce Sims,
John Holt,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Kas Product,
The Golliwogs,
New York Dolls,
Fugazi,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Minny Pops,
Wally Richardson,
Pole,
A Certain Ratio,
Byron Stingily,
Skarface,
Graham Central Station,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Second Layer,
The Remains,
Little Man,
ABBA,
Fela Kuti,
Gang of Four,
The Beau Brummels,
Tres Demented,
Pussy Galore,
The Sonics,
Jeru the Damaja,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Moby Grape,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Quadrant,
Index,
Groovy Waters,
Donald Byrd,
Glenn Branca,
X-Ray Spex,
Man Parrish,
Connie Case,
The Angels of Light,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies.
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.