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 Albania and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
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 Darondo to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Roxy Music. All the underground hits.
All The Five Americans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mary Jane Girls,
Marvin Gaye,
R.M.O.,
The Beau Brummels,
Kerrie Biddell,
June Days,
X-101,
Rekid,
Chris & Cosey,
Supertramp,
The Sound,
Sun City Girls,
Fluxion,
Barbara Tucker,
Piero Umiliani,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Alphaville,
The Knickerbockers,
Slick Rick,
Whodini,
Sun Ra,
the Slits,
Can,
The Busters,
David Bowie,
Second Layer,
the Germs,
Bauhaus,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Chrome,
Minor Threat,
Thee Headcoats,
Monks,
Pet Shop Boys,
Pantaleimon,
Japan,
the Human League,
Skarface,
Deadbeat,
Albert Ayler,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Gap Band,
Lindisfarne,
Prince Buster,
The Dead C,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Smiths,
Bob Dylan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Bad Manners,
Wings,
The Move,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Magazine,
Aaron Thompson,
B.T. Express,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Seeds,
The Associates, The Associates, The Associates, The Associates.
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.