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 Micronesia and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 arpeggiator 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 The Selecter to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Amazonics. All the underground hits.
All Scrapy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roxy Music 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?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Joe Smooth,
Animal Collective,
Spandau Ballet,
Johnny Clarke,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Qualms,
The Sound,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Agitation Free,
Make Up,
K-Klass,
Letta Mbulu,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pagans,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cabaret Voltaire,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Cybotron,
Throbbing Gristle,
Buzzcocks,
The Fortunes,
The Gap Band,
Swell Maps,
Howard Jones,
Dark Day,
Rites of Spring,
The Dave Clark Five,
Faust,
Fela Kuti,
New York Dolls,
Massinfluence,
Avey Tare,
Pet Shop Boys,
Black Flag,
Mandrill,
The Star Department,
Quantec,
Inner City,
Albert Ayler,
Reuben Wilson,
Au Pairs,
The Offenders,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Chris Corsano,
Stereo Dub,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Terry Callier,
Jeff Lynne,
The Knickerbockers,
The Gories,
Quando Quango,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mr. Review,
Nils Olav,
X-Ray Spex,
the Bar-Kays,
Sparks,
Sam Rivers,
The Techniques,
the Slits,
Laurel Aitken,
The Dirtbombs,
The Kinks,
Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads.
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.