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 Greece and from Tehran.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 808 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 Delta 5 to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Malaria!. All the underground hits.
All Lalann tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
David Bowie,
DNA,
The Barracudas,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Nik Kershaw,
Dead Boys,
Magma,
Minny Pops,
Tommy Roe,
Archie Shepp,
Gregory Isaacs,
Alton Ellis,
Interpol,
Marc Almond,
The Invisible,
Index,
Warsaw,
Brand Nubian,
The Gories,
The Real Kids,
Lungfish,
The Skatalites,
The Neon Judgement,
Anthony Braxton,
John Lydon,
Pierre Henry,
the Slits,
New York Dolls,
cv313,
The Saints,
Oneida,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Pagans,
Ronnie Foster,
Faust,
The Cowsills,
The Names,
Guru Guru,
Nick Fraelich,
Peter & Gordon,
MDC,
Chris & Cosey,
Pharoah Sanders,
Drive Like Jehu,
Lebanon Hanover,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Steve Hackett,
Groovy Waters,
Goldenarms,
Matthew Halsall,
Funky Four + One,
Man Parrish,
Stiv Bators,
The Birthday Party,
June Days,
MC5,
Technova,
Moebius,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.