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 Sierra Leone and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Radio Birdman to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Modern Lovers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Connie Case,
The Moleskins,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Radio Birdman,
Rekid,
The Black Dice,
Eve St. Jones,
The Walker Brothers,
Rufus Thomas,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Little Man,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Grass Roots,
10cc,
Inner City,
Chris Corsano,
The Moody Blues,
Jandek,
Wire,
Juan Atkins,
Brothers Johnson,
The Durutti Column,
Massinfluence,
Black Flag,
The Birthday Party,
Thompson Twins,
Jawbox,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Modern Lovers,
Alphaville,
Camouflage,
KRS-One,
Index,
The Golliwogs,
The Cramps,
Q and Not U,
Yaz,
Tres Demented,
Sarah Menescal,
Oblivians,
Babytalk,
Boredoms,
Arcadia,
Von Mondo,
PIL,
Maurizio,
Pantaleimon,
the Slits,
Sam Rivers,
The American Breed,
The Cowsills,
Sandy B,
Nik Kershaw,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Star Department,
Sällskapet,
Sun City Girls,
Young Marble Giants,
Marvin Gaye,
Saccharine Trust,
Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound.
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.