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 East Timor and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 mellotron 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 Ralphi Rosario to the techno 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 Ituana. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Heaven 17,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Standells,
FM Einheit,
The Litter,
Wings,
Carl Craig,
The Mojo Men,
Flipper,
Bootsy Collins,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Girls At Our Best!,
OOIOO,
Neil Young,
Marine Girls,
The Skatalites,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mark Hollis,
La Düsseldorf,
The Slackers,
Sarah Menescal,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sandy B,
Amon Düül,
Bill Wells,
Nico,
DJ Sneak,
Moss Icon,
The Pop Group,
Josef K,
Ponytail,
the Slits,
Country Teasers,
Severed Heads,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Camberwell Now,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Motions,
Black Flag,
Alton Ellis,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Camouflage,
Dave Gahan,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Symarip,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Martian,
Zero Boys,
The Residents,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mantronix,
Roy Ayers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ituana,
The Velvet Underground,
Nation of Ulysses,
Drexciya,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
EPMD,
Nick Fraelich,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.