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 Uzbekistan and from London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 chamberlin 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 The Chocolate Watch Band to the grime 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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All The Techniques tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator 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 synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Main Source,
Reuben Wilson,
Joyce Sims,
Glenn Branca,
Royal Trux,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Peter & Gordon,
Bobby Byrd,
Lou Reed,
The Selecter,
Crooked Eye,
Easy Going,
Tears for Fears,
Lungfish,
Dennis Brown,
Harmonia,
Erasure,
Franke,
The Golliwogs,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nik Kershaw,
the Germs,
The Smoke,
New Age Steppers,
Lindisfarne,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Nirvana,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Jeff Lynne,
Ornette Coleman,
cv313,
Vainqueur,
Kenny Larkin,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jandek,
Lightning Bolt,
Alton Ellis,
Man Eating Sloth,
Arcadia,
Wolf Eyes,
The Shadows of Knight,
R.M.O.,
Barrington Levy,
Isaac Hayes,
David Bowie,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
kango's stein massive,
This Heat,
Erykah Badu,
The Velvet Underground,
Kaleidoscope,
Little Man,
Arab on Radar,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Bar-Kays,
X-101,
Aaron Thompson,
Skarface,
Susan Cadogan,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.