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 Iceland and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 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 Mantronix to the disco 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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All Subhumans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Connie Case record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
The Real Kids,
Livin' Joy,
Rakim,
The Searchers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Girls At Our Best!,
David Bowie,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mandrill,
Skaos,
Zero Boys,
Todd Terry,
Black Pus,
Interpol,
The Buckinghams,
The Shadows of Knight,
Los Fastidios,
The Blackbyrds,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Michelle Simonal,
Severed Heads,
Kayak,
the Soft Cell,
Radiohead,
Tomorrow,
Swans,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Smoke,
The Dave Clark Five,
Glenn Branca,
Amazonics,
Tropical Tobacco,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dead Boys,
Henry Cow,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Swans,
Robert Görl,
Pantaleimon,
The Cowsills,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
AZ,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Blancmange,
Kurtis Blow,
Angry Samoans,
Fad Gadget,
John Lydon,
Sex Pistols,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Godley & Creme,
Goldenarms,
James White and The Blacks,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nation of Ulysses,
Eurythmics,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
New Order,
Quando Quango,
Suburban Knight,
Bill Wells,
Black Moon,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.