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 Lithuania and from Beijing.
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 Stockholm and Woodstock.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Young Marble Giants to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ornette Coleman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Heaven 17,
Electric Prunes,
Yaz,
The Grass Roots,
Panda Bear,
The Sonics,
Lindisfarne,
Cameo,
The Alarm Clocks,
Guru Guru,
Kayak,
Malaria!,
Symarip,
The Angels of Light,
Shoche,
Infiniti,
Wally Richardson,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sugar Minott,
Glenn Branca,
Circle Jerks,
Janne Schatter,
The American Breed,
Alison Limerick,
Skarface,
Joyce Sims,
This Heat,
Sparks,
Bobby Sherman,
The Pretty Things,
Scan 7,
Pierre Henry,
The Evens,
John Coltrane,
Crispian St. Peters,
Agitation Free,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Alton Ellis,
Magma,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gang of Four,
The Kinks,
Television Personalities,
Silicon Teens,
Delta 5,
Animal Collective,
Parry Music,
Depeche Mode,
Swans,
The Trojans,
Average White Band,
The Leaves,
Henry Cow,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Soft Cell,
Peter and Kerry,
Babytalk,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Flash Fearless,
Quantec,
Boredoms,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.