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 Afghanistan and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Fad Gadget to the grime 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 Cybotron. All the underground hits.
All Banda Bassotti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Silicon Teens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacob Miller record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Prince Buster,
Silicon Teens,
Parry Music,
Ronan,
JFA,
Intrusion,
Cecil Taylor,
PIL,
Lou Christie,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eve St. Jones,
Josef K,
Michelle Simonal,
Barry Ungar,
The Wake,
Jeff Mills,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Metal Thangz,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Vladislav Delay,
Kayak,
the Human League,
Infiniti,
Robert Hood,
Porter Ricks,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Inner City,
Crime,
Ohio Players,
Stockholm Monsters,
Piero Umiliani,
Q65,
Cymande,
The Doors,
Dead Boys,
Boogie Down Productions,
Little Man,
Matthew Halsall,
Camberwell Now,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Nik Kershaw,
Yazoo,
Juan Atkins,
Depeche Mode,
Icehouse,
Wings,
Stereo Dub,
The Fall,
Crash Course in Science,
Andrew Hill,
The Angels of Light,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ossler,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bluetip,
New Age Steppers,
Amon Düül II,
Rufus Thomas,
Country Teasers,
Oneida,
Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme.
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.