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 Thailand and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Milan.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Mighty Diamonds to the punk 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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All T.S.O.L. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Names record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bob Dylan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Gories,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
These Immortal Souls,
Gang Green,
Mantronix,
Donny Hathaway,
the Soft Cell,
Bobby Byrd,
Yellowson,
K-Klass,
Morten Harket,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
ABC,
Dave Gahan,
Quantec,
The Leaves,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Pretty Things,
Interpol,
Grey Daturas,
Pharoah Sanders,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Youth Brigade,
Sarah Menescal,
Sun City Girls,
Reagan Youth,
MDC,
Lucky Dragons,
Ultravox,
Tubeway Army,
The Dave Clark Five,
Duran Duran,
The Victims,
Derrick Morgan,
The Knickerbockers,
The Music Machine,
Pet Shop Boys,
New Order,
Minnie Riperton,
Electric Prunes,
Nation of Ulysses,
Soft Cell,
Fugazi,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Blackbyrds,
ABBA,
Ultra Naté,
Grandmaster Flash,
FM Einheit,
T.S.O.L.,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Graham Central Station,
Crispian St. Peters,
Roger Hodgson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jesper Dahlback,
Tim Buckley,
Mo-Dettes,
Aaron Thompson,
OOIOO,
MC5,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.