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 Rwanda and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Hot Snakes to the crunk 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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All CMW tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Sonics,
Crash Course in Science,
Radiohead,
John Foxx,
Magazine,
Maurizio,
MDC,
Whodini,
Mandrill,
La Düsseldorf,
Lakeside,
Grauzone,
David McCallum,
The Evens,
Skaos,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gong,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Danielle Patucci,
Dark Day,
Brothers Johnson,
Mad Mike,
The Fire Engines,
Piero Umiliani,
Joey Negro,
Swans,
Scientists,
Bad Manners,
The Young Rascals,
Yusef Lateef,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Monochrome Set,
ABBA,
Fad Gadget,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Zapp,
Pylon,
Animal Collective,
Yellowson,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Clear Light,
The Sound,
Dawn Penn,
the Soft Cell,
Ten City,
The Dead C,
Agent Orange,
Gang Green,
Kayak,
Prince Buster,
Das Ding,
Lee Hazlewood,
Black Flag,
China Crisis,
Gang of Four,
Urselle,
Wolf Eyes,
The Selecter,
Letta Mbulu,
Infiniti,
Panda Bear,
The American Breed,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.