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 Equatorial Guinea and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Kinks to the dance 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Selecter,
Bush Tetras,
Das Ding,
Sister Nancy,
Masters at Work,
Lindisfarne,
Hashim,
K-Klass,
Mad Mike,
The Gories,
Max Romeo,
The Blackbyrds,
the Human League,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Tremeloes,
AZ,
Average White Band,
Soft Machine,
Public Enemy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Human League,
The Skatalites,
Von Mondo,
Slick Rick,
World's Most,
Suicide,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeru the Damaja,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Chris Corsano,
Mission of Burma,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Wire,
Magma,
Scientists,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Cheater Slicks,
The Smoke,
Deakin,
Circle Jerks,
The Gladiators,
Sixth Finger,
The Birthday Party,
Thee Headcoats,
Bronski Beat,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sandy B,
Faust,
Pere Ubu,
Stereo Dub,
Josef K,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kool Moe Dee,
Prince Buster,
Soul Sonic Force,
Isaac Hayes,
The Fire Engines,
Intrusion,
Fear,
Rekid, Rekid, Rekid, Rekid.
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.