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 Tuvalu and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Al Stewart to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vladislav Delay,
Neil Young,
Babytalk,
Toni Rubio,
John Holt,
Whodini,
The Move,
Roxy Music,
Mission of Burma,
Ohio Players,
Minny Pops,
The Remains,
Dorothy Ashby,
Graham Central Station,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Smoke,
The Music Machine,
Archie Shepp,
Soft Cell,
10cc,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
T. Rex,
Alphaville,
The Moody Blues,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Unwound,
Malaria!,
Godley & Creme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gichy Dan,
Faust,
The Walker Brothers,
Kurtis Blow,
Suicide,
B.T. Express,
Michelle Simonal,
the Swans,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The United States of America,
David McCallum,
Dark Day,
PIL,
Jeff Mills,
The Moleskins,
New Order,
The Tremeloes,
Boredoms,
The Doors,
Absolute Body Control,
The Invisible,
Sam Rivers,
JFA,
Average White Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Zapp,
The Misunderstood,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.