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 Nicaragua and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 spring reverb 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 Theoretical Girls to the grime 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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Camouflage,
The Sonics,
Gastr Del Sol,
PIL,
Can,
Lou Reed,
Black Pus,
Television,
Los Fastidios,
Soulsonic Force,
Audionom,
Mark Hollis,
Morten Harket,
Jawbox,
Man Eating Sloth,
Zapp,
Quantec,
Desert Stars,
Minor Threat,
Public Enemy,
Boogie Down Productions,
cv313,
Royal Trux,
Judy Mowatt,
Buzzcocks,
Marcia Griffiths,
Moebius,
The Dirtbombs,
Cymande,
Cal Tjader,
Gang Starr,
The Skatalites,
Dennis Brown,
Frankie Knuckles,
MC5,
T. Rex,
Gil Scott Heron,
Oblivians,
Jacob Miller,
Cameo,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Don Cherry,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Scientists,
Eric Dolphy,
JFA,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Stooges,
Radio Birdman,
Yusef Lateef,
Slave,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Alton Ellis,
Danielle Patucci,
The Selecter,
Yaz,
Minny Pops,
Minnie Riperton,
Mary Jane Girls,
Thee Headcoats,
Model 500,
Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen.
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.