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 Czech Republic and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Loose Ends to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Monolake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doors 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 clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
The Saints,
The Slackers,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Little Man,
Blossom Toes,
Negative Approach,
The Doors,
Surgeon,
LL Cool J,
The Skatalites,
Simply Red,
The Knickerbockers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marine Girls,
The Music Machine,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Henry Cow,
Toni Rubio,
Pantaleimon,
Hashim,
Sarah Menescal,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Archie Shepp,
The New Christs,
Qualms,
Marshall Jefferson,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Deadbeat,
Alton Ellis,
Amon Düül II,
Altered Images,
The Seeds,
John Cale,
Blake Baxter,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Raincoats,
Trumans Water,
Desert Stars,
The Dead C,
Cecil Taylor,
Agent Orange,
Gerry Rafferty,
China Crisis,
Joensuu 1685,
Ultra Naté,
Bush Tetras,
Bang On A Can,
Peter & Gordon,
The Electric Prunes,
Rites of Spring,
FM Einheit,
Guru Guru,
Inner City,
Dawn Penn,
Lungfish,
Bob Dylan,
Amazonics,
Marc Almond,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.