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 Chile and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Salvador.
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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Suburban Knight to the rock 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 Jerry's Kids. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Eating Sloth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick Morgan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Pretty Things,
Donny Hathaway,
Public Enemy,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Little Man,
Erasure,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Supertramp,
Susan Cadogan,
Simply Red,
Qualms,
Cluster,
Black Bananas,
Juan Atkins,
Pylon,
Bluetip,
Alison Limerick,
Junior Murvin,
Carl Craig,
Fela Kuti,
Terry Callier,
Flamin' Groovies,
Moss Icon,
The Seeds,
Gong,
Smog,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brothers Johnson,
T. Rex,
The Cowsills,
Panda Bear,
Soft Cell,
Nation of Ulysses,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mark Hollis,
The Young Rascals,
Grauzone,
Tom Boy,
Cal Tjader,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Warren Ellis,
These Immortal Souls,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Funky Four + One,
The Fugs,
Cybotron,
The Velvet Underground,
Technova,
Gang Green,
Aural Exciters,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Litter,
Slave,
Japan,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Country Teasers,
Michelle Simonal,
John Cale,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.