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 Nicaragua and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Fugazi to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Altered Images,
The Golliwogs,
Gang Green,
Icehouse,
T.S.O.L.,
Buzzcocks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Negative Approach,
Nirvana,
The Gladiators,
Minutemen,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Leaves,
Gang of Four,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
PIL,
Gong,
Suburban Knight,
Lungfish,
Organ,
Niagra,
Howard Jones,
Faust,
UT,
Crispy Ambulance,
Thompson Twins,
Black Bananas,
Fat Boys,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Reuben Wilson,
Man Parrish,
The Invisible,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lakeside,
Oneida,
Qualms,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Surgeon,
Piero Umiliani,
Mission of Burma,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Happenings,
La Düsseldorf,
Bootsy Collins,
The Divine Comedy,
Glenn Branca,
Little Man,
Judy Mowatt,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gabor Szabo,
X-Ray Spex,
The New Christs,
Bluetip,
Bad Manners,
Crime,
The Index,
Jerry's Kids,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.