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 Uganda and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Sonny Sharrock to the punk 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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flamin' Groovies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Maleditus Sound,
Johnny Clarke,
Clear Light,
Underground Resistance,
Blake Baxter,
The Knickerbockers,
Ronnie Foster,
Skaos,
Adolescents,
Letta Mbulu,
Saccharine Trust,
Ten City,
The Smoke,
These Immortal Souls,
The Doobie Brothers,
Minnie Riperton,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
CMW,
Soul II Soul,
The Techniques,
Television Personalities,
The Names,
Tubeway Army,
Pharoah Sanders,
Joey Negro,
Josef K,
H. Thieme,
Hot Snakes,
Donald Byrd,
The Index,
Erykah Badu,
Brass Construction,
James White and The Blacks,
Shuggie Otis,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sonic Youth,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Janne Schatter,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Easy Going,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Cheater Slicks,
The Martian,
The Misunderstood,
Nirvana,
The Evens,
Make Up,
Blancmange,
Pole,
Lightning Bolt,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Walker Brothers,
Man Parrish,
Lebanon Hanover,
R.M.O.,
Cameo,
Funkadelic,
Hasil Adkins,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.