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 Singapore and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Nation of Ulysses to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Popol Vuh. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Clear Light,
The Leaves,
The Skatalites,
Peter and Kerry,
The Saints,
The Black Dice,
Neil Young,
Tim Buckley,
Shuggie Otis,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Five Americans,
ABC,
Bobby Sherman,
Pulsallama,
Soulsonic Force,
Nas,
Black Bananas,
Angry Samoans,
Traffic Nightmare,
Second Layer,
Kenny Larkin,
Brick,
Eli Mardock,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Joyce Sims,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gong,
Ronnie Foster,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rosa Yemen,
Public Enemy,
EPMD,
the Swans,
Todd Rundgren,
The Associates,
Y Pants,
The Remains,
The Raincoats,
Sarah Menescal,
Derrick May,
Sonny Sharrock,
Theoretical Girls,
Janne Schatter,
Dark Day,
E-Dancer,
Grauzone,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Charles Mingus,
the Soft Cell,
Minutemen,
Dead Boys,
Gang of Four,
Youth Brigade,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Warsaw,
Scion,
Bill Wells,
The Slits,
Patti Smith,
Reagan Youth,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.