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 Syria and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Hot Snakes to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 DNA. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marvin Gaye record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arcadia,
Sarah Menescal,
The Shadows of Knight,
Neil Young,
Sixth Finger,
Public Enemy,
Fela Kuti,
Drexciya,
the Human League,
Albert Ayler,
Niagra,
Soft Machine,
Delta 5,
Marmalade,
Absolute Body Control,
Yazoo,
Letta Mbulu,
Prince Buster,
Pole,
Terrestrial Tones,
Funky Four + One,
Accadde A,
Robert Hood,
Sandy B,
Trumans Water,
Jandek,
Dead Boys,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cybotron,
Stiv Bators,
Fugazi,
Janne Schatter,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sun City Girls,
The Smoke,
The Moody Blues,
Soul II Soul,
The Grass Roots,
Shuggie Otis,
Kool Moe Dee,
Roxette,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Massinfluence,
Guru Guru,
Barrington Levy,
Pussy Galore,
The Gap Band,
Mad Mike,
Shoche,
D'Angelo,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Zeros,
Bauhaus,
Second Layer,
The Litter,
Brick,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Brass Construction,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.