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 South Sudan and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
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 Cymande to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
A Certain Ratio,
Nico,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Index,
Jandek,
Scion,
Pet Shop Boys,
Roxette,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Flesh Eaters,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Scott Walker,
The Offenders,
Cymande,
Joey Negro,
Radiohead,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Spandau Ballet,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bizarre Inc.,
The New Christs,
Marine Girls,
Skarface,
The Detroit Cobras,
Infiniti,
Scientists,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Inner City,
Erasure,
Wolf Eyes,
One Last Wish,
Shuggie Otis,
Black Flag,
Magazine,
Stereo Dub,
The Move,
Boogie Down Productions,
Laurel Aitken,
The Count Five,
Ronan,
Quadrant,
Talk Talk,
Jeff Mills,
Scan 7,
Rekid,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
X-102,
Joe Smooth,
Joensuu 1685,
Janne Schatter,
Cybotron,
ABBA,
Mission of Burma,
Ken Boothe,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Patti Smith,
Interpol,
the Association,
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.