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 Italy and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 organ 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 the Fania All-Stars to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pantytec. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul Sonic Force 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Toasters,
Mo-Dettes,
The Electric Prunes,
Franke,
The Fire Engines,
Soulsonic Force,
Man Eating Sloth,
Young Marble Giants,
John Coltrane,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Avey Tare,
Hoover,
10cc,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Joyce Sims,
Ralphi Rosario,
Aaron Thompson,
Tom Boy,
Japan,
Black Bananas,
The Sonics,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Idris Muhammad,
Slick Rick,
Gang Starr,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Walker Brothers,
Alison Limerick,
MC5,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Offenders,
Henry Cow,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Excepter,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Dennis Brown,
Todd Terry,
Brick,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Angry Samoans,
Rekid,
Goldenarms,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Grandmaster Flash,
Harmonia,
Lou Reed,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Eurythmics,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Eric Dolphy,
Colin Newman,
Ornette Coleman,
The Dirtbombs,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Fela Kuti,
Thee Headcoats,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sparks,
Desert Stars,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.