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 Swaziland and from Tokyo.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Unwound to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Star Department. All the underground hits.
All Ten City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
Al Stewart,
The Tremeloes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Joy Division,
Jacques Brel,
Wings,
Depeche Mode,
Bronski Beat,
Q65,
Swans,
The Shadows of Knight,
Henry Cow,
Niagra,
LL Cool J,
Mandrill,
Mo-Dettes,
MDC,
Dead Boys,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Dead C,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Detroit Cobras,
Unrelated Segments,
MC5,
The Count Five,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Outsiders,
Eden Ahbez,
John Foxx,
Masters at Work,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Porter Ricks,
Glenn Branca,
This Heat,
Todd Rundgren,
The Real Kids,
Deadbeat,
Duran Duran,
Joyce Sims,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Eddi Front,
Slave,
Radiohead,
Andrew Hill,
Ituana,
Rapeman,
The Electric Prunes,
Tommy Roe,
Moby Grape,
Nils Olav,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pantytec,
Judy Mowatt,
Oneida,
Skarface,
Blancmange,
Sexual Harrassment,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Gories, The Gories, The Gories, The Gories.
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.