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 Ireland and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lagos.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Man Eating Sloth to the techno 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 Cybotron. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultra Naté record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Wasted Youth,
Dave Gahan,
Kaleidoscope,
Electric Prunes,
Tim Buckley,
T. Rex,
The Busters,
The New Christs,
the Bar-Kays,
The Dirtbombs,
The Move,
The Real Kids,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Clear Light,
The Durutti Column,
Lungfish,
Flipper,
The Moleskins,
Young Marble Giants,
Kool Moe Dee,
Blancmange,
Nik Kershaw,
Max Romeo,
The Trojans,
Kayak,
Man Parrish,
Make Up,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Wire,
Marine Girls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
New York Dolls,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Das Ding,
the Association,
The Names,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
L. Decosne,
Shuggie Otis,
Tom Boy,
The Toasters,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Star Department,
Bad Manners,
Gang Gang Dance,
OOIOO,
Arcadia,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sound Behaviour,
the Sonics,
Arab on Radar,
Bluetip,
Aswad,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Skriet,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.