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 Cape Verde and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro 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 Joey Negro to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Mr. Review. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flamin' Groovies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 808 and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
Zapp,
the Bar-Kays,
Sonic Youth,
Vainqueur,
The Dave Clark Five,
Drive Like Jehu,
48th St. Collective,
Sound Behaviour,
John Foxx,
The Modern Lovers,
The Saints,
Sight & Sound,
Gregory Isaacs,
Scrapy,
Japan,
Popol Vuh,
Mary Jane Girls,
Young Marble Giants,
Pulsallama,
Big Daddy Kane,
Shuggie Otis,
Kenny Larkin,
Rosa Yemen,
Parry Music,
Skarface,
Crime,
Thompson Twins,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lightning Bolt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
A Certain Ratio,
These Immortal Souls,
Lucky Dragons,
The American Breed,
Mark Hollis,
Malaria!,
Terry Callier,
U.S. Maple,
Sex Pistols,
Underground Resistance,
The Velvet Underground,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Wire,
The Martian,
Leonard Cohen,
Minutemen,
Camberwell Now,
Oblivians,
Byron Stingily,
The Searchers,
Minny Pops,
James White and The Blacks,
Johnny Clarke,
Gang of Four,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amon Düül,
The Golliwogs,
The New Christs,
Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones.
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.