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 Taiwan and from Lagos.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the electroclash 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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
The Black Dice,
Tres Demented,
Japan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Shuggie Otis,
Graham Central Station,
Terry Callier,
Leonard Cohen,
In Retrospect,
Dead Boys,
DJ Style,
Soft Machine,
DNA,
The Buckinghams,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Gang Green,
Don Cherry,
The Birthday Party,
The Cure,
Drexciya,
Jacob Miller,
Juan Atkins,
Mission of Burma,
Simply Red,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
E-Dancer,
Qualms,
Bauhaus,
Sister Nancy,
Deepchord,
Inner City,
Marine Girls,
B.T. Express,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
KRS-One,
The New Christs,
The Star Department,
Model 500,
Blancmange,
James White and The Blacks,
Mars,
Radio Birdman,
Moss Icon,
The Golliwogs,
Bootsy Collins,
Neu!,
The Selecter,
Ultimate Spinach,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Alton Ellis,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The American Breed,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
New Age Steppers,
Ralphi Rosario,
Patti Smith,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.