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 Malta and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet 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 the Soft Cell to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Martian. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Smog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
Swans,
Electric Prunes,
Public Enemy,
Eli Mardock,
the Slits,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Trojans,
Alice Coltrane,
AZ,
Robert Hood,
Rufus Thomas,
Althea and Donna,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Prince Buster,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
U.S. Maple,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Detroit Cobras,
Junior Murvin,
PIL,
Oneida,
Traffic Nightmare,
Talk Talk,
Sound Behaviour,
The Golliwogs,
Franke,
MDC,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Isaac Hayes,
X-Ray Spex,
Ornette Coleman,
Nico,
The Smiths,
Kerri Chandler,
Letta Mbulu,
The Divine Comedy,
Zero Boys,
Rekid,
Rakim,
Whodini,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Q65,
Susan Cadogan,
Tropical Tobacco,
Massinfluence,
Altered Images,
John Cale,
Sonic Youth,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Thee Headcoats,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Mo-Dettes,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Association,
Girls At Our Best!,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Funkadelic,
The Associates,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.