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 Tuvalu and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the theremin 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 Mojo Men to the crunk 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 Technova. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Chocolate Watch Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry's Kids,
La Düsseldorf,
Patti Smith,
Glenn Branca,
The Invisible,
Circle Jerks,
Warren Ellis,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Brothers Johnson,
Ossler,
Crime,
X-102,
Kaleidoscope,
Traffic Nightmare,
Essential Logic,
Chris & Cosey,
Guru Guru,
The Star Department,
Swell Maps,
Angry Samoans,
The Blues Magoos,
The Angels of Light,
Flipper,
The Smiths,
the Slits,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Marc Almond,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Reagan Youth,
Severed Heads,
The Black Dice,
Juan Atkins,
LL Cool J,
MC5,
DJ Sneak,
Maurizio,
FM Einheit,
The Busters,
The Offenders,
Barrington Levy,
Blancmange,
Nick Fraelich,
New York Dolls,
Cluster,
Funkadelic,
Peter & Gordon,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fear,
Dennis Brown,
Hardrive,
Black Sheep,
Jacques Brel,
L. Decosne,
The Saints,
This Heat,
Minny Pops,
Shuggie Otis,
Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman.
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.