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 Turkey and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet 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 Groovy Waters to the disco 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 The Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liliput record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
The Black Dice,
Soft Cell,
Reuben Wilson,
Brass Construction,
Aaron Thompson,
Jerry's Kids,
Cameo,
Fad Gadget,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
June Days,
Colin Newman,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eli Mardock,
Marine Girls,
Au Pairs,
Scott Walker,
The Grass Roots,
LL Cool J,
Can,
Minnie Riperton,
Accadde A,
Livin' Joy,
Prince Buster,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Angels of Light,
Malaria!,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nick Fraelich,
Bobby Womack,
The Kinks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
kango's stein massive,
F. McDonald,
Tommy Roe,
Mission of Burma,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ultra Naté,
Siglo XX,
Desert Stars,
The Toasters,
Soft Machine,
Nas,
Slave,
Ponytail,
Alton Ellis,
T. Rex,
Newcleus,
The Fortunes,
Joey Negro,
Letta Mbulu,
Alphaville,
KRS-One,
Interpol,
The Moleskins,
Henry Cow,
Harmonia,
The Star Department,
Radiopuhelimet,
A Certain Ratio,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.