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 Congo and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the snare 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 Wasted Youth to the dance 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 Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Martian,
The Cowsills,
Archie Shepp,
Marmalade,
Josef K,
Isaac Hayes,
Gang of Four,
Nation of Ulysses,
Inner City,
The Mummies,
James White and The Blacks,
Aloha Tigers,
Outsiders,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Swell Maps,
The Skatalites,
Todd Terry,
Soul Sonic Force,
Country Teasers,
Stiv Bators,
Infiniti,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Tremeloes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Chris & Cosey,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sex Pistols,
Amon Düül,
David Axelrod,
Interpol,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tubeway Army,
The Smoke,
Donald Byrd,
Crispy Ambulance,
Saccharine Trust,
The Busters,
Excepter,
Au Pairs,
Kurtis Blow,
Dave Gahan,
Jerry's Kids,
Oblivians,
Andrew Hill,
Black Sheep,
JFA,
D'Angelo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
John Foxx,
Kerri Chandler,
Thompson Twins,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Technova,
Sandy B,
Wire,
Marvin Gaye,
MDC,
Graham Central Station,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.