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 Tonga and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and London.
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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Louis and Bebe Barron to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Hasil Adkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barclay James Harvest,
Dennis Brown,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Kinks,
Jandek,
Sister Nancy,
The Fortunes,
Eric Dolphy,
Wolf Eyes,
Barrington Levy,
The Gap Band,
the Slits,
Scan 7,
The Grass Roots,
Sandy B,
The Litter,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Monks,
Johnny Clarke,
Juan Atkins,
Joensuu 1685,
John Cale,
Funkadelic,
Little Man,
Pussy Galore,
Zapp,
Dead Boys,
Nik Kershaw,
China Crisis,
Roxy Music,
Amon Düül II,
Blancmange,
Sugar Minott,
Brass Construction,
Skriet,
The Slackers,
Joy Division,
Bill Wells,
Kurtis Blow,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Maleditus Sound,
Tim Buckley,
Sun Ra,
Essential Logic,
Kerri Chandler,
A Certain Ratio,
The Sonics,
Sparks,
B.T. Express,
This Heat,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Cowsills,
Second Layer,
Robert Wyatt,
the Association,
Stereo Dub,
Fatback Band,
Soft Machine,
Gichy Dan,
John Lydon,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cluster,
E-Dancer,
Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion.
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.