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 Angola and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 snare 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 Neu! to the electroclash 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 Bad Manners. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Archie Shepp 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Rosa Yemen,
Supertramp,
Mo-Dettes,
Roger Hodgson,
The Gap Band,
Theoretical Girls,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Erasure,
The American Breed,
Brass Construction,
The Wake,
Lightning Bolt,
Colin Newman,
Andrew Hill,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Glenn Branca,
Chris Corsano,
Magazine,
Alison Limerick,
Visage,
Quadrant,
a-ha,
Hardrive,
Bobby Womack,
Sällskapet,
Scrapy,
Soul Sonic Force,
Grauzone,
Patti Smith,
Roy Ayers,
Metal Thangz,
Sonic Youth,
Rotary Connection,
Warsaw,
The Busters,
Henry Cow,
The Red Krayola,
Black Moon,
Marmalade,
Ludus,
Altered Images,
Ultravox,
Sarah Menescal,
Pierre Henry,
The Count Five,
Joyce Sims,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Slits,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Offenders,
The Star Department,
Television Personalities,
Sixth Finger,
Arab on Radar,
Deadbeat,
Eden Ahbez,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Godley & Creme,
Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer.
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.