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 Zimbabwe and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
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 The Modern Lovers to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Marshall Jefferson. All the underground hits.
All The Count Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Flag record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Fela Kuti,
Con Funk Shun,
Sonic Youth,
Cheater Slicks,
Bill Wells,
Rod Modell,
Maleditus Sound,
Jeff Mills,
The Slackers,
John Coltrane,
Can,
Wally Richardson,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Minor Threat,
the Normal,
Fat Boys,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cramps,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Steve Hackett,
Brand Nubian,
Scratch Acid,
Sister Nancy,
PIL,
The Beau Brummels,
The Monochrome Set,
Rapeman,
The Skatalites,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Evens,
Danielle Patucci,
Sam Rivers,
Harpers Bizarre,
Scion,
Gang of Four,
Cecil Taylor,
Television,
Radiohead,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Anakelly,
Marcia Griffiths,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Hashim,
Davy DMX,
Roger Hodgson,
Japan,
Matthew Halsall,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Flipper,
Chris & Cosey,
Pere Ubu,
The Blues Magoos,
Subhumans,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Busters,
Todd Rundgren,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.